100 Etsy posts

A few months ago, I decided to do 100 Etsy listings, as a way to expand my crafty horizons, along with my kids.  I just finished three listings, bringing my total to 100, just in time for 2016.  Yea!

There are the usual bags, and lace and bracelets.  I also listed some temari balls, just to add something new to the shop.

2015 has been an interesting year for Our Crafty Empire.  We've learned a lot, and actually sold stuff (which was quite surprising to me!).  I'm not sure what 2016 will bring, but I'm looking forward to more learning and making ahead.

Green temari

Working on temari

Etsy week 17 and 18

Sigh, I didn't make it to 100 last month.  I made it to 90 though.  Here are the latest 10.

First, the colourful ones; an orange zipper bag and a bright blue finger puppet.

Some hand drawn zippered bags and bubble bags.

Etsy week 15 and 16

We were running a booth last weekend and as usual, that turned me into a semi-organized mess.  Thankfully, making stuff for running booths means I now have new stuff to list on Etsy.  I've got 80 listings at this point and I'm really hoping to wrap things up by end of month.  Here's the latest set of 10.

There is lace, in the form of collars and barefoot sandals.

There are little bags.

And a dragon and a braided bracelet to round things out.

Feet

I had a strange urge to make barefoot sandals this weekend.  I go barefoot any chance I get, so I love the idea of these sandals, but I admit, I'm too lazy to actually wear them often.

I'm going to list them in the Etsy shop but first I've got to figure out how to display them.  I'm not sure how I feel about photographing feet.  Maybe the little lady could be my foot model.

Etsy week 13 and 14

I recently listed some items that I'm proud, even if I don't expect to sell them.  I like them because they are useful items and a lot of my own ideas went into them.  I used a bought pattern to get the sizing for the shirts, but the designs are my own.  For the bag, I made my own printing plate and used curry leaves from the garden.

I also listed some hair clips and accessories.

Bits and pieces

Part of the reason Our Crafty Empire exists is that my supply cupboards need emptying so I can keep buying new supplies.  I love fabric!  I love yarn!  I love threads!

A lifetime of crafting does lead to bits and pieces of things I keep meaning to use up.  Here's what I'm trying to use now.  It's some friendship band type cords that I tied ages ago, and some old jean zippers.

I think they are meant to be little pouches.  Here are the first ones.

Weekly Etsy 12

After running a booth two weeks ago, I've had to do some inventory to figure out what I have in stock.  I still want to reach my goal of 100 Etsy listings, but with some things sold out, I'm not sure how to do the counting.  I think I'll just say that each listing written and with photos counts as one.

Here is the latest batch of 5.  Included are two cute dolls that the little lady almost couldn't bear to part with.

Back from Art for Grabs

We're back from Art for Grabs and we had a great time.  It's a wonderful event, with wonderful organizers.  We met many, many lovely people and sold more than we expected.

I'm kicking myself for not taking any pictures of the booth.  Ah well, next time, I'll get the little lady to remind me.  Since I don't have booth pictures, I'll show bags, just for eye candy.  About half of these have gone to new owners.

Make more stuff...

The kiddos and I will be running a booth at Art for Grabs in a few days, and as usual when we run a booth, I'm trying to squeeze in more... more bags... more toys... just more...

Here's my table right now.  Those stacks are the result of experimenting with mono printing using a homemade gelli plate.  I'm hoping to turn them into square zippered bags.

Weekly Etsy 11

We're gearing up to run a booth at Art for Grabs in a week, but I'm trying to keep up with the Etsy listings.  I finally managed to finish up some bags my kids drew.  They're the ones on the left.

Weekly Etsy 9 and 10

I've tried to double up on the listings over the past week to make up for slipping the week before.  I've now made it to 50, half way through my self assigned 100 listings.  Yea!

In real life

I've been working towards 100 Etsy listings and I'm about half way through now, but the little lady especially loves selling in real life.  So we'll be running a booth next month

Art for Grabs

The School at Jaya One

September 12-13.

Weekly Etsy 8

I've gotten a week behind in my goal of listing 5 items a week to reach a 100.  Ah well, part of a self-imposed challenge is to keep at it, even if you slip a little.  Here's the latest batch of 5.

Sakura Cake

Here's the little lady's version of her birthday sakura flower cake.  I'd have liked a better photo, but the cake got eaten too fast. She practiced her piping on some cupcakes, then she did the icing, pretty much by herself.  I think it came out lovely.

Weekly Etsy 7

I managed 5 listings last week, but I'm late with the update.  It's bags and bracelets again.  Next week I'll try to list toys.

Test drive cake

The little lady and the little guy have their birthdays close together.  The little guy had a chocolate ice box cake.  The little lady requested a lemon cake with cream cheese icing (with sakura flowers on top please).  We found a recipe and did a test run.

It's gotten her approval, but she has a few decorating changes in mind.

Weekly Etsy 6

We sure do make a lot of weird things.  This week's listings include a doily (yes, a grandmotherly doily!) and some super bright beaded crocheted bracelets.  There's also a lovely little bag designed by the lovely little lady.

Chocolate all the way

Want to see the little guy's choice of birthday cake?  Here it is...

According to the recipe, it's a 'Death by Chocolate' icebox cake.  It's got chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache and oreo crumbs, all topped with chocolate whipped cream.

He made it himself (with a little bit of help from me).  It's the perfect thing for chocolate lovers like the little guy.

Weekly Etsy 5: It's been a busy week

It's been a busy week.  Hari Raya was on Thursday and we've been spending time with family.  I'm trying to be consistent though, so in the end, we managed 5.  I actually wish I could wear those little crochet decorated tops myself.  Perhaps that'll be my next sewing project.

Weekly Etsy 4

We late, but we made it to 20 listings.  It's all bags again this week.  Some of them a bit fishy.

Little lady's first animation

The little lady has been learning how to animate.  Her latest animations are to help her remember how to spell.  We put her first and second animation up on youtube.

This is the 'Could, would, should song'.

This is the 'Sh song'.

Weekly Etsy 3

We nearly didn't meet the 5 listing goal this week, but I added a listing this morning, so we just made it.  I think this week is extra special because we have some hand drawn bags by the little lady.  She drew the bags, took the photos and helped with the listings.

Project bags

I managed to finish off some projects and as a result, I was shuffling around my supplies and restocking my various projects bags.  It lead to a little walk down memory lane for me.

I sew these little bags out of calico and get the kids to decorate them with Sharpies.  Here's my current project bag, stuffed full of yarn for a crochet project. The little lady did the drawing about 2 or 3 years ago.  It's a fairy princess with with flowers in the sky over her head and a diamond in the ground under her feet.

Here's one from the little guy at around the same time.  it's a spider, done in big whirly scribbles.

Here's another bag done by the little lady a few months ago.  Quite a different style isn't it?

Weekly Etsy 2

We made it through another week of Etsy postings.  I had help from the little guy for writing the listings, so, some of the listings have descriptions like goofy, or red-eyed.  That's the fun part of having a little guy on your copy writing team!

Tie dye

Last week the kids did some tie dying.  It took a while to get a picture because we kept wearing the shirts and putting them in the laundry.  We didn't do a perfect job getting the dye through all the layers, but we all got comfortable shirts to wear.  In my book, that's a success!

Weekly Etsy

I've had a token Etsy shop for a long time, but earlier this year, the kids decided to get involved.  I still make most of the things in it, but the kiddos help with taking pictures and writing listings.

We decided to challenge ourselves and do 100 Etsy listings.  Originally I thought to list once a day, but in the end, I thought 5 listings a week was more realistic.  The goal is to learn.  So I'm trying not to worry about taking perfect pictures or perfectly worded, perfectly spelled listings.  Here are the 5 from last week.

Baked mermaid

The little lady made mermaid bread.  The little guy and I made the bread dough with lots and lots of chocolate buttons and chocolate chips.  We made normal rolls but the little lady turned her portion into a mermaid.

Here are the little lady's comments:

"I made this bread just because I felt like it.  I took some of the chocolate buttons and used them as shells and if you look very closely, there is a walnut for her crown.  I ate the bottom tail, but then I felt so full I stopped."

Pictures

It turns out we had some pictures of our setup for the booth.  We had paper maiche trees and display stands made from recycled cardboard.

After the fair

We ran our first craft booth at e-Curve last Sunday.  We didn't sell much but we learned a lot.  We learned that running a booth for 12 hours is tiring. It's taken me 3 days just to get the energy to write this post!

The little guy was great at setup and little lady proved to be a gracious and tireless sales lady.  She's very serious when she says it's her dream is to run an arts and craft shop, and she's proven she's willing to work for it.  It means that we've decided to try running a booth again in the next few months.  Now I've got to rethink our stock and research to find a venue that works better for us.

I'll be sharing some of the things we made.  Here's one of the little lady's projects; hand drawn bookmarks.

Going to the fair!

I love crafts.  I've had a craft blog for a few years.

My kids also share my love of making things.  We've run a few booths during school events.  Now they want to run a REAL booth.  It's my daughter's dream to sell art stuff.  My little guy wants to be the shop keeper, counting money and keeping lists.

Tomorrow's the big day!  We'll be running a booth at e-Curve, selling our hand crafted items.  We hope to meet lots of people and and sell some stuff!