I've returned!!

Happy September, folks!

I took my shop out of Vacation mode and almost immediately began selling items again! August was a decent month, especially because I'd been on hiatus for a few weeks and August is usually quite slow for most sellers on Etsy.



I also submitted a handful of photos to CraftGawker and three of the 6 were chosen for the site! So exciting! It is making me want to take better photos of my work.





My cherry tomato plants on one of my bedroom windows are ridiculous! I planted them in a window box and a couple months ago and they've practically taken over the window.


The plants have tons of flowers, but the fruit are slow-growing. I was hoping to be able to can cherry tomato salsa for winter, so as soon as any of the fruit is ripe, I pick them and freeze them. I've got two green cherry tomatoes growing to quite the decent size on one of my plants and a bunch of tiny little babies (1mm or so) throughout both plants.



I went to see "Julie & Julia" at the AMC @ Lincoln Center last night and realized I really need to keep up with my blog and following the blogs I love. I think it'd be fun to do a DIY tutorial every two weeks. I've been meaning to etch some glassware as gifts, so that will be the first one. Coming soon...

<3 Always,
--Taina

Temporarily Closed....

So things have been so nuts with me recently, I made the decision to close up shop until mid August. I've been on Etsy since Sept. 11th, 2005 and have NEVER put my shop in 'Vacation Mode'. This was a huge decision I spent a month thinking about.

I claimed "personal matters" in my shop announcement, but I will explain that a bit...

I'm currently fighting with my landlord on some serious apartment repairs that they are pretty much refusing to do, getting ready for a Labor Management meeting at work and filling in for my Union Chair this month as he's on vacation and it was decided very last minute that I'd take over his job for the next 3 weeks...

My roommate is also moving out in Sept, she was just accepted to Cambridge University for a 1 year Developmental Studies program. My mom has also been pretty ill recently, so every minute that I'm not dealing with housing issues, union issues or work issues, I'm trying to figure out family stuff. Needless to say, it's nuts! As much as I absolutely love making things and selling on Etsy, it's been difficult to even find the time to hit up the Post Office. So I decided to close up and focus on other things for a month and then come back full force for the holidays.



I'm also working on a decent-sized custom order for my boss. She wanted 8 blue cupcake makeup bags for her bridal party.

What's amazing is I've never wanted to make items as much as I have since temporarily closing up my shop! All I think about is making more baby shoes, pouches, finally working on those retro aprons I've been talking about all year... So look out! Come August 10th, I will have a ton of new stuff posted!

I just bought this pin from Lolabot.



It's a John Maeda quote. We sell his book "Laws of Simplicity" @ MoMA, it's fascinating.

Okay, I'm off to Target and then to see a friend's show tonight...

<3 Always,
--Taina

ahhh handmade!

I was really hoping to have a week of vacation to make things for my shop in June, but my worker's comp trumped that. It's amazing how this works...I was stuck at home and depressed, not even being able to sit for any decent length of time because of the swelling of my left foot and I was too down to make things. Which is really quite dumb because the thing that makes me feel best and really myself is when I am being productive and creating...What a terrible downward spiral those 2.5 weeks were!

Towards the end of the last week, just before returning to work, I made these two pairs of baby shoes:(Click photos for more info!)


Pink woodgrain! One of my fave fabric patterns.




But I'm back! And I have no plans other than a few work and education-related after-work activities and some serious yoga classes to attend in the next two weeks. I have a decent-sized custom order, 8 cupcake makeup bags for my boss's bridal party gift totes. I want to get them done even though she won't need them until early September. I ordered the fabric, so hopefully I will have them finished in a week's time or so. That will be nice, one more thing out of the way. My retro aprons are never going to be finished!

I have a week's vacation set up for the first week of August, going to a family reunion of my dad's side of the family. It should be a BLAST, I'm trying to decide if there's enough room in the car for my sewing machine. It would be nice to get some stuff done. I will have to close up shop for that week, which is a little scary, as August tends to do pretty well. I may just announce delayed shipments instead.

In other handmade news?

I made a pair of pretty sweet (if I do say so myself!) coasters for a friend who has become quite dear to me quite quickly as a thank you for keeping me sane through mid-contract negotiations. I used out-of-print Loteria fabric on ceramic tiles, modgepodged the fabric cut to fit, then polyurethaned them so they are completely waterproof. I'd never tried polyurethane-ing fabric before, and it seemed to work pretty well. I paired that with a bottle of Maker's Mark and now when I come over, my friend shows me he has them every time, which makes me smile to no end.

I made a 0-3 month dress and a 3-6month dress for the new babies in my dear friends' lives. My buddy Greg who works in Security at MoMA just had a beautiful baby girl named Paayton Grace. I can't wait until her tiny chubby body fits the 0-3 dress, give it a week or two and I should have photos! For Tamsin, a co-shop steward, I made a 3-6 month dress because she's got maternity leave for 4 months and I thought she'd be able to get some use out of a larger size. Tamsin gave birth to a very healthy Flora Zoe on June 22nd. I know she will send me photos when the dress fits, but that will be in quite some time.

Well, time to go back the fulltime job that pays the bills...lunchtime is over! Photos to come soon!

<3 Always,
--Taina

Birdies!

I finally got my worker's comp. claim #, but nobody's been assigned to my case yet. I'm feeling a little better just knowing it's being worked on. I was feeling pretty darned hopeless this morning.

I ordered 5 new yards of fabric from FabricWorm, so be on the lookout for new things soon! I bought this New Michael Miller below and can't wait to make pillows and baby shoes with it:



My landlord is supposed to be painting my apartment, I've lived in the same place for 3.5 years, so apparently it is time. I still have not heard back on when, and I'm living in a state of not wanting to put anything up until the painting gets done.


Because I've been lying in bed a lot resting my injured foot, I decided to finally put up the vinyl birdie decals I bought from Elephannie a few months ago. I know I will have to take them down once the Super paints, but I will just buy more. In the meantime? I get to wake up and see these little guys above my closet and they make me happy. I need more happiness. It's so easy to wallow and find myself depressed over something stupid that leaves me fairly immobile for (so far) 4 days.

On top of that, the front runner in the boy dept. is causing my mind to question my attraction to those who are unavailable, and the union stuff never stops, the grievances just keep coming!

My poor little toe! The little guy was never able to fend for itself. =P

I was able to make a new pair of baby shoes last night and listed them this morning. They are super sweet and I hope somebody snatches them up quickly, as the print is definitely one of my new favorites!


(click photo for more info)

That's been the extent of my creativity unless you count planting more herb seedlings on my window.

If I had more money, I would go on an Etsy shopping spree, but I just paid rent and bills and am feeling less than comfortable spending more money on myself. So I've just been 'heart'ing everything in site. My poor attempt at a play on words. ;)

Well I'm going to try to drag my sewing machine to my desk and make at least one more pair of shoes. Productivity makes me happiest.

What I wouldn't give to have a hot glue gun handy! I'd at least make recycled magazine page coasters. I wish my hardware store delivered. I don't know why I have no hot glue gun but approx. 100 hot glue sticks, a mystery for the ages...?

<3 Always,
--Taina

longest blogging delay ever!

Hi everyone!

It's been a crazy month and a half. Thanks to my Etsy penpal Nadine for reminding me I should blog. It seems I may have a little time on my hands as I had an injury at work that resulted in what seems to be a possible hairline fracture at worst and a pretty bad contusion/hematoma at best. It's my little toe. Who knew I needed my little toe? I mean, sure, 5 toes means decent balance, but...my little toe is just...well, it's always been a sad chubby little piggie, and now it's swollen and purple and brown and won't fit into my most comfy flats.

This past week has been interesting. I try not to discuss politics on this blog, but it's sometimes unavoidable, as politics and DIY culture tend to mix.

Dr. George Tiller was murdered in Kansas last week. No matter how you feel about abortion, I am not asking to be flamed. I believe it's a very personal decision.

I have been eyeing Kate Black's feminist stuff for ages. I'm a huge fan of her work, she's a totally awesome woman I've met numerous times. I have purchased plenty of her "Well behaved women rarely make history" mirrors/bottle openers and own a "Don't F*ck With Me Fellas, This Ain't My First Time At The Rodeo" bottle-opener keychain.



Along with sending money to Planned Parenthood in mourning the loss of Dr. Tiller, I also purchased this bottle-opener keychain I've been eyeing for ages:



I can't wait for it to come in the mail!

As far as new items for my shop? I'm working on it, it's tough for me to sit for any length of time at my machine because of my toe accident. I did just purchase some really great fabric from FabricWorm, but that will be the next post. =)

<3 Always,
--Taina