It's Been a Loooong Time...

This last year and a half kinda flew by! With work and life, and mainly work, I haven't had enough hours in a day to achieve all the things I'd love to do. Hopefully, with the new year, I'll be able to prioritize my work and life a little better.

Anyway, I was recently invited to participate in a holiday craft show at a local senior community. It was a wonderful experience, being able to provide a festive atmosphere and to bring art into the lives of the residence. I was also very fortunate to meet a few very talented artists and makers! One of them is Min from Bottle Of Clouds. In addtition to the beautifully sewn wallets in her Etsy shop, she also creates the most whimsical and beautiful rings and hair accessories! Please check out her wonderful little shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/bottleofclouds?ref=ss_profile

Since this is my first craft show and I had major time constraints, I had to get pretty creative with my table display. Take a look at the following pictures of the show and take a guess at what my greeting card display is made of? :)

Custom Designs for a Yarn Shop

It's been awhile since I've posted! Life just threw me a few curve balls and I'm trying real hard to deal with them. Anyway, I finally finished designing and making a couple of designs for my mom's yarn shop in Pasadena, CA. It's called Skein, and it's an incredible yarn store for those who love to knit, and beginners who'd like to try (they've got amazing on-site teachers!). Honestly, I haven't been there for a few years, but she'd always have the best yarns that ranges from affordable to exquisite! In fact, this previous summer was the 10th year anniversary (which she completely forgot!), and I must say it is an amazing feat to own a yarn shop in Los Angeles for that long!

For those of you who live in, and/or planning to visit Southern California and are in need of beautiful yarn, please check out Skein! Maybe you'll get to see some of my goodies live! :)

(This is a little sign I made for her shop for her 10th year anniversary!)

Getting More Organized...

...Or try to. Because of the inconsistency of sales in my Etsy shop, there are a few little details I have been ignoring ever since I opened last September. If you have been reading this blog, you probably know that I finally printed out some business cards a couple months ago. I'm not sure how I operated this long without them, but I now finally have something nice to include with people's purchases!

Anyway, I came across a box of die-cut cards the other day and thought, "hmm...these will be great as 'thank you' notes..." After stamping on a few of them, they are indeed wonderful and simple as 'thank you' notes. I must say that my packaging has come a long way since the beginning. I used to buy the envelopes on my way to the post office, and I would grab the closest piece of paper to write my thank yous on it. Now, I have the same mailing envelopes (all hand-stamped), business cards, and thank you cards. I feel so organized and ready! :)

Thrift-store Shopping...

This has been a great week for me so far! I invited my boss and co-workers over for a little lunch before work on Monday, and somehow I got that night off! I was ecstatic! I had a really rough and long night on Sunday that I didn't even think I could've work through another night at the restaurant. So the surprise day-off was a godsend! On top of that, I found out accidentally that one of my tags were among the features for one of the Storque articles! I was definitely pleasantly surprised and confused because it took me a couple of days to figure out which one it was. It was an article about the latest trends and things to look for, I'm very honored that my tags are part of this, click here for the article and to view the wonderful collection!

Anyway, my boyfriend and I went to the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse today in Oakland to see what they have right now, and we found some useful stuff. He wants to make some wind chimes with apothecary bottles that they have there, and I found an old-school trivet. So we both left happy! :)

(So cool! It stretches out!)

Nostalgic Moments...

Even though these couple of days have been my day offs, they have been kind of blah. I should be happy and out doing things, especially since the weather has been amazing here, but I just feel exhausted and listless. I have also started to reminisce the good ol' days, when life was simpler...

Anyway, while I was in this mood, I curated another treasury which I've named, A Little Bit of Nostalgia. I hope you enjoy it, and don't forget to leave a comment for these wonderful artists! :)

Let's hope the days get better...

Yippee!

Yay! The treasury I curated the other day made Etsy's front page this morning! I'm so happy! I would like to thank all the sellers that made these beautiful items! :)

Etsy's Front Page!!! Yay!!!

I can't believe it! One of my tags are on Etsy's front page!! I'm so excited! It has always seem like such an unattainable goal! Anyway, please check out this wonderful collection curated by blockpartypress! Thank you!

Corals and Greys...

Since it's my day off today, I didn't really bother with dress up or nice. My agenda today was to run some errands, cook some food, clean the house, and maybe work a little. So after I put on whatever that was sitting on top of my dresser, I looked down and realized that I really like the color combination of coral and grey! I don't feel like it's been too overdone, so after I got home from my errands, I decided to make a treasury based on these colors. I'm quite happy with the results and would like to share with you!

I've named the collection, Corally Girly, and you'll see why. Please check it out here and don't forget to leave a comment for these amazing artists! :)

Have a wonderful day!

++ Today's pic is my Pink Flower Necklace ++

New Products!

Ever since the new year began, I've been thinking about expanding my shop to beyond just gift tags. After experimenting with many different items, I think I've found something that would fit into my shop - decorated wooden clothespin. (And no...not the cheesy kind!) Like all my tags, they are created with the vintage aesthetics in mind, and are multipurpose. I'm also experimenting with a new material, shrinky dinks, which is very fun to play with! I love that every one of them shrink slightly different from each other, thus consistent with the rest of my shop!

Anyway, I hope you can stop by my shop,check out the two newest listings, and let me know what you think! Thanks and have a wonderful day! :)

Short Week / Long Weekend

Today is the first day of my work week, but since my birthday is this Sunday, I have taken a few days off, so it'll be a short week! Yay! It's been a long time since I had a mini-vacation. I wish I can go out of town, but maybe rest will be good enough.

Anyway, I gotta run and get ready for a crazy night at work! Have a wonderful weekend!

++ Today's pic is my Felt & Wool Flower Brooch ++

My Handmade Stuff...

It's been a tough couple of weeks lately, with work being busy and my computer getting eaten up by viruses, I feel like I have a lot of catching-up work to do. Unfortunately, even though the computer is fixed (thanks to my wonderful boyfriend!), I still don't have much time or energy to devote my attention to my projects. This is one of those times I miss being a child: having all the time in the world to obsess over some projects. It could just be hours of making pretty paper tissue flowers, or days of designing and creating dioramas, there always seemed to be time and energy for them. Now, with the pressure of life, bills and what not, I find it difficult most days to even muster up enough energy to sit down in front of my work table. Think it's time for a vacation...

On a brighter note, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that one of my favorite gift tags are featured in AlynCarlson's blog, Colorgirl. I love embroidery and she has included many very beautiful and whimsical embroidered items! Please check it out! :)

Last little fun tidbit, in addition to creating paper goods, I also like to design little accessories, such as pins, jewelry...etc. I would like to know what you think of them. Be honest please! :) Thanks so much!

++ Today's pic is my Peacock Flower Necklace ++

Featured Seller: Koide Studio

One of the vendors at my SMASHED! Craft Fair/Party was Kiyomi from Koide Studio. She creates these beautiful ceramic wares that I completely fell in love with. Please read on and learn about her journey in becoming a ceramics artist, and don't forget to check out her shop, Koide Studio!

Hi! I am Kiyomi from Koide Studio.

Even when I was a child, I liked crafting but I’d never imagined to become a ceramist. In college, I studied architectural interior design and worked for an architecture firm after graduating. The work was a bit away from creativity, and most of my creative juice went into ceramics.

 I think food is my first passion. “I wanted to make my own cup and bowl for everyday use!”, that was my motivation. Eating is an everyday activity so I wanted to make it more personal and fun. I also imagined that eating from your own bowl, or made by somebody you know would be healthier (I mean spiritually).

 For the first time I discovered of joy of ceramics was in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. That was long time ago, and I kept that passion hidden and I started taking ceramics classes again in 2002. Since then, I’ve been obsessed with making ceramic pieces.

My passion is making functional pieces. I want to use them, and I want them to be used. Not for special occasion, but for everyday life. I am from Japan, but I wouldn’t describe my pieces very Japanese. They are more mixed in many different cultures as I traveled and lived in some colorful countries. I like funky style, drawing with colors, round shape, kitties, etc. I also believe a bit of oddness makes pieces more interesting and special to each person. So I let modern technology to make perfect merchandises and in the meantime I make funky stuff. My inspiration comes from everywhere and from every aspect in my daily life, the changing color of the sky, falling leaves on the street, door knobs, some sweets made by a friend, etc… My ultimate goal is to travel somewhere, let’s say Spain, and find my cups used in a café I stop by. Wouldn't it be cool?

www.koidestudio.etsy.com

One Treasury, Two Treasury...

I woke up this morning with two wonderful surprises waiting for me! A couple of my tags are currently featured in two treasuries! I always think it's amazing when other people actually find my items in this humongous haystack that is Etsy.

The first one has a XO theme in black and red and is curated by Monical. Please check out the whimsical treasury here!

The second one is curated by TBead with a very dramatic black and white theme. Check out her beautiful treasury here before it expires on late Friday night!

Last, but not least, is a treasury I created when I had a little down time last night. It's called the "Softness of Spring", please take a look at my treasury here!

One little note before I go, I will no longer be posting screenshots of the treasuries here. I do think that they make my blog prettier, but I would rather post the links to the actual treasury so comments can be left for the curators and the selected sellers.

So...on that note...please leave comments and support your fellow Etsy peoples!

A Blast on Sunday!

So last Sunday was my SMASHED! Craft Fair/Party in my backyard, and I had a lot of fun! It was such a beautiful sunny day and I couldn't have ask for more. Along with my two crafty neighbors, we had three more vendors who set up their tables to sell their items. Sometimes, I forget how much better it is to see people's creations in person!

We set up a bar in one corner serving beer and Madras, and a table of food on the other. One of my friends, who's a chef, created a prawn dish and a marinated asparagus dish for the party, while my neighbor baked very delicious vegan muffins and cookies. Since the event was from 2 to 6pm, after we broke down our tables, most of our friends just gathered around our picnic table and continued the party until late in the night.

In retrospect, I wish we had a little more time to promote this event, but it was such a wonderful afternoon for all of us to enjoy: the beautiful Sunday outdoors, the company of our friends and new acquaintances, delicious food and refreshing drinks, and selling some items while doing it all!

Before I run, please check out my neighbor Megan's Etsy shop, Tapiseria. She makes the cutest jewelry using shrinky-dinks!

I'm Kinda Behind...

Argh!! As I've mentioned in the previous post, I'm organizing a little craft fair/party for this Sunday in my backyard. There's still so much to be done! Thankfully, I have these two days off and was able to go down my checklist and finish some stuff for both the party and my shop.

One of the things I'm really happy about accomplishing today was getting some business cards printed. I can't believe that my shop has been opened for seven months and I still haven't gotten it together and make some business cards! Since I don't have enough time to get them professionally printed (by Sunday), I bought some DIY business card paper from Avery, used their online template program, and finally printed a stack.

I was always wary of homemade business cards for fear that they don't look clean and professional, but I got the Two-Side Printable Clean Edge Business Cards paper from Avery and they actually look pretty good! :) Their online program doesn't provide a lot of fonts, so I designed it first in Photohop, then imported it onto the template. Works great! No downloads, and you can save your finish product as a PDF file.

Probably not the cheapest way to go, but it works for now! :)

My First Treasury (East)! My First Exhibit!

Thanks to Etsy's new Treasury East, I was able to curate my first treasury ever! It was a little harder than I thought, but it was definitely very fun! It's a collection of beautiful sky blue items that I've found, ranging from clothing to jewelry to photographs, and I've named it After April's Showers. Please check it out and leave a comment here!

My shop has been approved as an exhibitor this month on Brittni's beautiful site, Papernstitch! Please check out all the beautiful items she has on this site! Check out my shop here! :)

One last bit before I gotta run...I have organized a small craft fair/party here in Oakland, CA. If you live around here or in the area, feel free to stop by this Sunday, May 2nd, 2-6pm, say hey, and enjoy the party! Click on the image of the flyer below for more info.

I Love Springtime!

Pink and green is probably my favorite color combinations ever! So I was pleasantly surprised when I found that one of my tags are featured in PeppermintPinwheels' treasury! Please check it out before it expires on Monday! And don't forget to stop by her shop of beautiful handmade quilts!

Please click here to leave a comment for this treasury!

Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Love of Pink

It's almost spring time and I'm loving the warm days! Although the bay area has been really unpredictable, this week has been blessed with fairly decent weather. The beautiful days have been inspiring and motivating. :)


My work was kinda slow tonight for a thursday night, but then I realized that today was the deadline for filing taxes. From my experience, this day is usually pretty slow at a restaurant. If you have refunds, you probably file it and got it already awhile ago. For those who have to pay, some may put it until the last minute. Who knows.


Anyway, I'm just relieved by the mellowness of tonight. I got to leave slightly earlier, hung out with my boyfriend before we went home... it was great! Then, when I got home, I received a convo from TBead that says one of my tags are featured in her newest treasury! What a wonderful way to end the night! 

Please click here to leave a comment for this fun and beautiful treasury! :)

I just recently bought a candle from TBead. All her candles are made of 100% natural soy wax. I got the "rain water" candle and it smells amazing! Grapefruit, lemon and wonderfully refreshing scents! Please check out her shop for her soy candles and pretty jewelry too! :) Anyway, I'm ty-ty, gotta go to bed soon...

Snail Mail and Turquoise Love!

My job has been consuming every ounce of energy I have lately, but after a hard and chaotic day today, I came home to find that couple of my tags are being featured in a couple of different arenas! Totally made my day! :)

The first one is a feature on Snail Mail Aficionado's blog. She has such a beautiful, vintage-looking site (totally up my alley!), and she features many different artists that I honestly have never come across. Please check out the feature here.

Secondly, I was messing around with Craftopolis tonight and found out that one of my tags are also currently featured in a treasury! What a pleasant surprise! I get to yield my knowledge of the screenshot again! :)

Click here to leave a comment for this treasury!

Anywho, I'm exhausted and I have five whole days in front of me... have a great week and please sleep lots for me! :)

Earthy and Heavenly...

What a beautiful day it is! It is my day off and I woke up early with the bright sunshine on my face. It felt like the possibilities are endless, and the day's adventures have just begun... but here I am, still sitting at the computer in my robe at one in the afternoon! I need to leave the house! But before I do, I would like to share with you two treasuries I'm currently featured in. These collections are simply gorgeous, and as the title suggests, earthy and heavenly!

I recently found out how to take a screenshot, so I can actually keep the collections of treasuries my tags are featured in. I know I'm technologically behind, but that's ok, better late than never! :)

The first one is curated by Etsy seller, TBead. Please stop by her shop and check out her unique jewelry and candles! Also, check out my turtle design for her logo and shop banner! :)

Click here to leave a comment at the treasury!

Etsy seller, giftdesigns, has curated the following gorgeous and heavenly treasury and I'm honored to be included! Please don't forget to check out her shop full of beautiful and elegant jewelry!

Click here to leave a comment at the treasury!

I hope you enjoy them like I do! I am going to go have fun in the sun...