So Excited

I found out today that I'm going to be featured on a blog later this month--well, actually I was invited to give away a heart wreath AND be featured. I'm super excited. Here's the wreath that will be in the giveaway on http://frugalmommyof2girls.blogspot.com/: I figured it is well worth the giveaway to get some traffic at my etsy store. Oh, and somebody "hearts" my etsy shop!  Wahoo! Baby steps to a first sale, I'm hoping. :)

I've been making these wreaths like there's no tomorrow, in fact today I actually ran out of straight pins even though I bought about 6 packages of them just last week. They are so super easy to make although they do take about 3 or 4 hours each and about 3 yards of wool-blend felt. I could make them out of the cheap acrylic felt, but I don't think they'd have the rich feel these have. I got the inspiration for the wreath from one of my favorite blogs, Design Sponge which found the wreath on domestifluff. Kristin, the maker of the wreath, offers a great tutorial with good instructions and photos.I've gotta say, though, that I just don't have the patience for that, so I cut my circles with a Sizzix machine and the creatively named Circles #2 die: I can cut 6 at a time with that machine. Thank you, Sizzix! You are a lifesaver!

Update on goals:

I posted 4 new items on etsy this morning (still working through all of the bibs and burps I made months ago) and here I am posting on my blog. Ohh, it feels so good. I could really get used to this life of leisure, if only the paychecks would keep rolling in.

Goals for this week

Since I have the whole week off of work (wahoo!), I've decided to kick start my etsy store (at long last--for 8 months I've had a bunch of photos taken by my uber-talented friend Kristina Werner just sitting there waiting to get uploaded! Arghhhh!). Here are my goals for the week:

1. List 4 items each day for a total of 20 this week
2. Post at least 1 project on my blog each day
3. Clean up my craft room (it was so bad this morning I couldn't even bear to take a "before" picture)

I'm happy to report that I'm starting out the week with a bang: I added baby boy and girl bibs and burps to my etsy store (compelledtocraft.etsy.com).

I posted some Valentine projects earlier today; and my craft room is MUCH cleaner tonight than it was this morning. Wahoo!!! I even had lots of help from {b} and still got it done. [grin]

Today {b}sat on my desk while I worked on a dark gray wreath for my living room, wearing (if it can be called that) a pair of glasses as he carefully emptied my tool mug. He makes me smile.

Valentines Decor

Being the sucker I am for a good sale, I picked up four one-yard pieces of fabric in shades of pink and red last week, thinking I'd make a pennant banner for Valentine's Day decor--they were on clearance at The Material Girls quilt shop right here in town for a mere $3.00 a yard, minus an additional 20%, making them just $2.40 a yard. I simply couldn't resist. Then to my delight, the fabrics were just like the loaves and the fishes--they went on and on and on! I ended up with enough banner for the front and back porches (granted, my front porch is miniscule--we refer to it as "the servant's entrance") and the loft (I'll snap pics once the Christmas decor is down and the Valentine's is up).

With the leftovers I made a dozen 3-d heart ornaments.

Then with the leftovers of that I made two pretty kitchen towels.

Then with the leftovers of that, I pieced a little tree skirt for the ornament tree.

Then with the leftovers of that I made binding for the skirt.

And there are STILL leftovers!

That was perhaps the best $9.80 I've ever spent.