My New Etsy Shop!

Well, I finally did it. Yesterday, I finished up my banner design, and today I took pictures of the products I have so far. I’m pretty excited about it, but nervous at the same time. I always get nervous when I show my work to the public.

I’ve been wanting to sell my craft items for years. I figured it would be a nice little side job. For now, though, since I’m still not all that fast at sewing, the products I sell aren’t going to make me much money. For now, I’m doing it because I really enjoy it. I love sewing and creating products just as much as designing, if not more. I guess it’s just another way for me to artistically express myself! 

>>Please visit my shop: Neutral Ocean Design :)

Home-made Curtains & Some Design Work

Last night I made the window curtain; it took me 3.5 hours hehe I don't think it's that bad considering I've never made curtains before! Well, I am very proud with how they turned out. Today I bought a curtain rod and installed the window treatment at the house. It took me a half hour to finish everything, including hanging up his matching shower curtain. I wish I would have taken a picture straight on instead of at an angle, but oh well!

Tubbs Pro Wallpapering Design Work
Over the weekend I did a lot of organic SEO and gave her some options for PPC campaigns. She hasn't answered me back yet. Today I designed a comment card for her to give to her customers to fill out. I recommended she have them printed by Overnight Prints. They are my favorite printing company; they're affordable and deliver quality work. I think the comment card would be a nice touch for her company blog, because all she'll have to do is scan them into her computer and upload them.

On a different note, I have a game tonight and am not really looking forward to it. Last weeks game was AWEFUL.. We had an awesome sub goalie but none of our good offensive players were there and we were playing the best team in the league. We were in our zone the ENTIRE game. Fortunately, we were able to have two lines of D or I would have died lol. We were already dying by the end of the first period haha. The forwards kept complaining because they only had one sub but I was like, "You do realize, this entire game has been in Our zone."... Anyways, now I'm done venting about that haha. That's not even the reason I don't feel like going tonight :D I'm just being lazy. In all actuality, I don't really care about winning or losing, but when your team sucks THAT bad it's not even fun anymore :( 

Kai Cosplay & Chibi-Con Update

Well, I've been pretty busy working on my Kai costume, since there's going to be a small, one day con in Virginia Beach at the end of this month. It's called Chibi Con and will be held at the Virginia Beach Public Library. Here is the location info taken from the website, http://www.chibi-con.com/ :


Location: Virginia Beach, VA
Venue: Virginia Beach Central Library (Conference rooms area)
4100 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
When: April 30, 2010
9:00 AM - 4:50 pm  

The one day con, which is free, features panels, guest voice actors, and a music artist. I just can't believe it's free! I feel they should have asked for, like, 5 bucks or something! Unfortunately, it is on a Friday, And ends at 5, so that kinda sucks. Maybe we can plan dinner in Town Center. And yes, I will be in a Kai costume. In Town Center. LOL...

Here are some pictures; the hat is 95% complete; make-up practice:

My First Seamstress Job

My mom was working for a friend yesterday, hanging wallpaper in two bathrooms and helping out with the decor; she bought two, beautiful cloth shower curtains for the first bathroom and came up with the idea to use the second as a curtain for the window. She informed him that I was "into sewing" and that I could make a valance for the window. Well, I got the "job", went to the house to take measurements, and have the shower curtain sitting next to me now.

The fabric is very pretty; 100% polyester gold fabric with a subtle pattern of squares. I plan on completing the valance this weekend.

My First Finished Project!

Can you tell I'm excited about this?! Well, I've been wanting a panda hat for a long time, ever since I started sewing. I decided to take it a step further and make a panda scoodie! It's made out of good quality fleece so it's super soft and warm. I love the stitching around the edges, though I had some trouble with it. I think it's because the fabric was just too thick in some places. In a way, though, I kind of like the imperfections. It adds to it's unique, hand-made appearance. As you can tell, I'm not saying the hat looks like it's poorly done. I'm actually extremely anal, a big perfectionist, when it comes to the things I create. I've always been that way, since I was little. To the point of being a weird little kid.

Case in point: If I colored outside the lines in my coloring books, I would make my mom cut off those parts!! Who does that??!! I guess I just had a shaky hand, because I ended up hating coloring books and giving them up all together! Haha! I'm so strange...

Well, if I do start selling products then my customers will like that strangeness, because I'm all about working hard and producing quality work! At the same time, like I said earlier, I kind of like the messy look of the stitches, even though it was an accident. So I guess I'll have limited clientele XD. I also wanted to have each piece be unique in some way, so little imperfections add to that.

Possibly Going to Set Up Shop

Ok, So I've really been thinking seriously about selling on Etsy. Once I develop and perfect my products that is. I have lots of craft ideas to execute. I keep adding things to my 'little black book'. I think I'm going to focus on hats and dolls, but I may do some accessories as well, such as scarves and jewelry, and maybe artwork. I'm not sure about that, though.

Today I read all of Etsy's rules and regulations, looked up info about having a small craft business, and also looked at different postal services' pricing. I think I'm going to go with USPS.

I've had this idea for a while now, ever since I realized how much I like creating things, but I wasn't sure about it since I didn't have a sewing machine. Now I do! I really nice one, thanks to Billy. He is truly amazing :)

He doesn't like my idea though, since this isn't what I went to school for :/ We'll see how things go.