How do I ship this?

I am so glad I have today off, even though I would have gotten overtime pay for working it. It's rainy and cold outside, which makes it a perfect day to stay in and figure out how I will be shipping the massive makeup bag that was custom ordered. Seriously, it's huge. 20" across, 16" tall, with a 6" gusset? It's taking me forever, as I am triple-stitching everything.

The problem is that it's so sturdy that I don't know how it will fit in an envelope or box. I will be taking it to the P.O. tomorrow to see if they have any suggestions. I also want to make sure I know exactly how much my buyer will be paying for shipping. I really hope it's not terribly expensive. The normal size makeup bags I sell only cost $4 to ship overseas, and that's including the padded envelope that's made of recycled fibers and tissue paper. Because I won't be able to fold the bag in half, I will have to ship it flat in a gigantic envelope. Do they even make envelopes larger than 16x20? I'm nervous.

I washed all of my new fabric when I reorganized everything yesterday. I'm excited with the fabric I bought at Mood. I made a coin purse out of it late last night:


(Click photo for more info)

Well, I'm off to try to figure out this bag and make some more things. I haven't counted how many items I've made for Etsy this month yet, but I have a feeling I may be behind schedule. Here's to my goal of 20 again! So glad I have this week off!

<3 Always,
--Taina

Hooray for Organization!

Well dearies, I'm much more organized in my crafting area!

Yesterday I bought more plastic containers with lids and organized all of my fabrics by type (fun prints, everyday prints, interfacing, lining fabrics). I also decided to use one of my big glass jars for holding thread. It's clear and really pretty as you can see all of the colors. I even organized my notions into smaller containers! Totally exciting.

This morning I awoke to find I've already sold my pink bird makeup bag I listed yesterday. Hooray for sales!

I've been trying to be more organized this year, as it will make next year's taxes even easier on me. Etsy's dedicated part of it's website to "The Storque", where you can find all sorts of news, updates, videos and more. Well guess what I found? A pre-made Seller Worksheet!

I just spent the last hour customizing it to my needs. I needed a column for Charity percentages and I also wanted to include the sum of gross sales each month. And now I'm all done with January and February (thus far). Everytime I make a sale, I will just enter it into the spreadsheet and away we go!

So I listed another umbrella coin purse today:


(Click photo for more info.)

And now I'm off to water my plants, straighten up the livingroom and get ready for my friend Dorian (and maybe her girlfriend) to come over for brunch.

Speaking of plants, here are photos of my kitchen window, from left to right:








OMG, I just sold something else in the time it took to write this blog! One of my zoo pillows! How awesome! Today is a great day.

<3 Always,
--Taina