Happy Mother's Day!

I did it! I made a reversible tote bag for my mom! 4 hours of carefully ironing, cutting, stitching and trimming, I made a bag.

I'm so stoked, as I sketched out the pattern myself last week.

Now, it doesn't have a pocket, and I was going to spend the next 45 mins writing more and uploading photos before work...but...

I decided to make a little matching coin purse with a D-ring strap so she can find her keys and cellphone easily.

I will take photos later and post them tonight or tomorrow. =)

Happy Mother's Day to all of you with kids and your mothers!

<3 Always,
--Taina

It must be Spring!

Good morning!

It's a grey rainy day today here in my little neck of Northern Manhattan and I woke up this morning to find that I have somehow pulled a muscle in my lower back. Sore, sore sore! I called in a sick day at the fulltime job so I can rest up. I took some advil and sat up to list a new coin purse and blog a bit before taking a nap.


(click photos for more info!)

I love this new coin purse because the two sides are so different but they still work together. The placement of the red flower couldn't be better. So cheerful and Spring-like! Below is the other side of the same coin purse:



Okay, I have a confession to make, I cannot spend only 5 mins on Etsy, it's impossible. I'm addicted to that lovely, lovely site! I checked the forums, admired the frontpage selection, went through countless pages of shops and items I've "hearted" (Etsy's way of making a shop a favorite). Was inspired by all the gorgeous handmade items, listed my latest coin purse and came here to blog. Now I don't even know if I can sleep, I may work through the pain for as long as I can sit behind my sewing machine.

My cousin Andy is headed to Afghanistan today. I've got so many mixed emotions on this one. I'm feeling anxious, sad, already missing him...he was deployed to Iraq a few years ago and not a day, hour or minute went by that I wasn't worried about his safety, what he was seeing, what he was doing. He's more of a brother to me than a cousin, as we grew up down the hall from each other and he's less than two years younger than I am.

On a brighter note, his wife Avis and baby (Andy Jr.) are in town today, so hopefully I will be seeing the baby! I haven't seen him in a few months now. I bought a "Tale of Peter Rabbit" boardbook for him, and thought it might be nice to make a little stuffed rabbit to go along w/ it to bring to him today.

In other news? My final Marketing class was last night. I have mixed feelings, as I love being in school but didn't feel I got much out of the class. Between the homework and the class & commute time, it was time I could've spent on Etsy, so I'm glad I've got those hours back!

I hope I can sell a couple more things this month, as the charity Operation Dreamseed is closer to my heart than ever before since my cousin's deployment.

I'm off to sketch Peter Rabbit patterns while lying down and resting my back for a bit.

<3 Always,
--Taina

Back at work...

I spent all day Saturday sewing, made 3 clutches, I will be listing them in the next couple days. I am so excited! They have magnetic snaps and everything. I have been searching for fabrics I can use for both clutches and baby dresses and found some in FabricStash's shop. I plan on making another big order in April and making lots more baby dresses, in different sizes.



Sunday was spent with the family, so I got absolutely nothing handmade done. Although, I made birdsnest cookies and irish soda bread for Easter w/ the fam.

I am absolutely in love w/ my latest etsy purchase. I wanted a swallow necklace for a while and contacted OffBeet to see if it was possible to receive it by Easter. She was great, responded right away, shipped the item as soon as I paid for it and I've been wearing (and loving!) the necklace ever since!

Short entry, I'm back at work today after my 3 day weekend. It's hectic and crazy and I wish I'd taken another vacation day. =) I hope I'm not too tired tonight to make things!

<3 Always,
--Taina

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

Friday Morning Ritual

Today starts my first day of my 9 day vacation in NYC. I was hoping to get out of the city but I have class in the middle of the week.

I think I am coming down with a bit of a cold, at least I hope that's all it is. I'm going to the Dr. at noon today. I have this terrible fear of feeling under the weather on Friday, getting really sick on Saturday and waiting until Monday to see the Dr. People in large U.S. cities know that you don't go to the Emergency Room unless you are near death, because odds are you will die waiting terribly long to be seen. (Violent crimes and horrible near-death accidents are first, strept is way at the bottom of the list.)

After the doc I have to hunt down some heavy duty interfacing. I've never found it in NYC before, only the medium stuff, but it won't do for the very large makeup bag I have a custom order for. I usually order online but don't want to wait for it.

I had Valentine's plans to go to Blockheads for strawberry margaritas and mexican food w/ two of my friends/coworkers but one of them was really sick yesterday so plans were postponed. Le sigh.

So...Friday Morning Ritual? First? I photograph and list the item I made on Thurs. night. Second? I pay all of my bills online and figure out how much I have left after being paid. Third? I balance my Etsy Paypal acct. and transfer my actual earnings to my bank account.

This is how it works for my Etsy shop:
Listing Fees now are .20 for each of the month's 20 items = 4.00.
Etsy transaction fees once something sells = 3.5% of selling price
15% of selling price of each item - charity of the month
Paypal fees = 5% of each transaction.
Remaining? Goes to my savings account for my education fund.

I use money I make from my fulltime job to purchase supplies. I like the idea of my fulltime job investing in my education.

So this morning? I'm listing another turquoise sugar skull coin purse. It's one of my best sellers and I absolutely love the fabric!



Okay, I'm off to knit and catch up on the latest episode of Lost. Happy weekend, everyone!

<3 Always,
--Taina

Fifty items!

So I got to finish 18 items of the 20 goal before passing out last night at a little after midnight. My body needed the sleep. Tonight I will make the remaining two of the 20, but they won't be listed until February (tomorrow!)

I will try harder next month. I have never made 18 items for Etsy in one month, it's pretty exciting. I'm photographing items 17 and 18 this morning before work and listing them for sale on my Etsy shop.

When I listed item #17 last night, I reached an all-time high of items in my shop, FIFTY items! I've never had 50 items in my shop before. It's pretty exciting.

a few days ago I was contacted by a new Etsy buyer in Australia for a custom order. She wants two makeup bags, one like the ones I've started listing tons of and a much much larger one to hold her large bottles of shampoo and such. The larger one? 16" across and about 12" tall with a 6" gusseted bottom. She wanted it in my black & white disco dot fabric.

Because I like ordering supplies on Etsy, I ordered the fabric from my buddy Liz @ CheapThreads and hopefully it will be shipped today. I will either get it Sat or Monday. I also ordered more of the turquoise sugar skull fabric, since it's the fabric I sell the most items out of and I'm almost out after making the coin purse I listed a few days ago.

I love custom orders, but I always wonder if the buyer will back out after I spend money and time on the items. Until I have the money in my paypal account and the buyer is satisfied with items in hand, I am a bit nervous.

Item #16 of 18:


<3 Always,
--Taina

A change in plans?

It's 9:35pm, Wednesday night. I am listing my 16th of 20 items on Etsy. I'm absolutely exhausted. I really was hoping to make 4 more items tonight but I think I am only going to sew until 11pm and then finally go to bed at a decent hour.




(click photos for listing info.)

Work (the FT job) has been taking a ton out of me, as have health worries. A few weeks ago, I was terribly sick and went to the doctor for what ended up being a really nasty sinus infection. My Dr. is excellent and checks everything every time I see him. He checked my breathing and said he'd detected "a bit of emphysema."

I had a 102.6 fever that day, had been waiting 4 hours for a walk-in time due to a computer glitch and was too exhausted and sick to ask him what exactly he meant. I know what Emphysema is, I watched my grandmother die of it. She smoked all of her life. I smoked for less than a year in when I was 16 and maybe a handful of cigarettes my first year of college. I have not smoked since then. I will be 27 in less than a month. Emphysema means that your body inhales oxygen but does not exhale all of the carbon dioxide it produces. It's scary.

I want to go back to Capoeira class, but noticed I was having trouble breathing after the first hour of my last 2 1/2 hour class. I'd been diagnosed with allergy induced asthma by my previous physician. I mentioned that to my current physician and he said they are definitely not the same thing. I have an appt. w/ my current doc in a little more than 2 weeks, so I hope to get more info then.

I've been super exhausted lately. I'm making sure I get my B vitamins daily and I've noticed a bit more energy, but I wonder how much of it has to do with whatever is going on with my lungs. Anyway, my body is telling me to go to bed. I'm going to push for another hour and 15 mins and then pass out.


(click photo for listing info.)

<3 Always,
--Taina

Sewing my heart out.

It's 8am, I have to be at work at 10:30 today. I'm so nervous about meeting my goal of 20 items this month! I am charging my camera batteries so I can take photos of my latest items. I have a minute or two to write an entry.

Yesterday at work, all I could think about was coming home and sewing. I really wanted to sell more items this month, as I'd liked to have donated more to Doctors Without Borders. With mass media finally mentioning the recession the U.S. has been in for quite a while, sales have slowed practically everywhere. Even my place of work is dead.

Maybe February will be better. I am also optimistic about my Marketing class that starts next Wednesday.

I'm getting better at promoting, I think. I now update my shop's MySpace account regularly with new photos of items as I list them on Etsy. I also post the occasional bulletin for all of my MySpace friends to see when I list an item I particularly like. Of course, I have business cards, rubber stamps with my web address/e-mail address, I send personalized 'thank you' cards with every purchase. My Etsy mini is on both of my myspace accounts, personal and business. It features my top featured items and updates instantly if I change around my favorites in my shop. It's a pretty cool feature.

Last night I made four items and listed one I made the previous day. To date? I've made 16 items this month. If I can make 4 more tonight, I will be set.

I wish it wasn't so dark and rainy outside, my photos won't be as good as I really want them to be, even with photoshop adjusting the light/brightness.

Here's the coin purse I listed last night:


(Click the photo for more info.)

Okay, batteries are charged! I love my speed charger!

<3 Always,
--Taina

computers...

Oh! I am so proud of myself for keeping up w/ my blog this week. So exciting.

So I am up to my 6th item to list on Etsy for January out of my monthly goal of 20 this year. My fifth item was listed two days ago:


(Click the photo for the listing and more info.)

I made my sixth item last night, a makeup pouch out of the tattoo fabric. I was hoping to list it this morning but my internet connection has been wonky for the last 12 hours. Quite frustrating!

I spoke to the cable company after being on hold for an hour (no joke!) last night and they ran a speed test and said there was nothing wrong. My complaint was that my roommate's skype video chat w/ her mom in Italy gets disconnected and that occasionally even the shortest youtube video stops loading. They said streaming video wasn't really their problem. What???

After speaking to them, the internet gave out altogether. At this point, it was nearly midnight and I was too tired to be on hold for yet ANOTHER hour. I figured maybe it would fix itself by morning. No such luck. After work today, I intend to go home and sit on hold for another hour. I really wish I had a handsfree headset for my cellphone, so at least I could sew. Maybe I will try putting the cable company on speakerphone until someone actually answers the call. Hopefully I can get some more work done in the meantime.

I am feeling quite impulsive and looking at my favorite fabric suppliers for buying more fabric. It's very addictive. I still have two full yards of fun prints I haven't used, so I will try to use those first. I need to buy some more blue sugar skull fabric, as items made from it sell almost immediately through my shop.

If I can't do the speakerphone sewing, I will at least unpack my new harddrive and start moving all of my etsy photos and spreadsheets over to make room on my archaic desktop.

Here's to hopefully making items 7 and 8 tonight. I have 8 days to make 14 items and keep up my etsy new year resolution!

Time to go back to work at the fulltime job!

<3 always,
--Taina