On a hunt...

I actually kept my promise. I finished the dresses that I was supposed to finish this weekend. As I am sure you have already noticed; I am not a girly-girl when it comes to my baby girl outfits - I like retro and I like to combine what I see in fashion magazine into something that fits a baby or kid. Now, that doesn't mean that I won't throw in a pink muffin dress with whipped cream on top every now and then - but that is not where I am at for the moment. Right now I am all about polka dots and down to earth... what I am tomorrow is another story ;)

So here is the dresses I finished: My "Olivia's Garden" Baby dresses:

100% Cotton (except for ribbon, zipper, and flowers) available in three baby sizes (S, M, L). I have not uploaded this to my Etsy.com shop yet and I don't know if I should, at least not yet. I so want this dress to come out great in the pictures and I feel that a little baby girl would make it look even better. What do you guys think? Does it matter if I have a baby model or not?

Do you know of any baby girls 6-18 months that would look adorable in this dress that would want to be my model?

Any comments are welcome!

Making a commitment

Ok - tonight I WILL finish one more dress!! I promise! I am not stopping until it is done!

Just so you know - even though Phillies are going to play the whole day and night... I will find the time to do it! Go Phillies... or wait - Go Sewing!!

Focus on the Red Thing

I am a bull that sees red sometimes, but it is not a bad thing necessarily. It is just that when I see red I have a hard time focusing on something else but this red thing!

My red thing for the moment is to learn as much as I can about Real Estate Investing. I am consumed by it. I can't think about anything else. I look at real estate for sale all over when I have a moment over. I try to play the game Rich Dad Cashflow for an hour before I go to bed and I read about real estate investing while on the elliptical, watching TV, and whenever I have a moment over. I am so focused on it!

But I also have my little business that I want to excel in and get more sales from, not because I think I can make Candie Ink to anything big, but I like doing it and I think I can learn from that experience! For the moment I have a hard time taking time to finish some items I have laying around. I have this awesome dress that I love that I just need to finish... but when I sit there or when I get ready to sew I just think about Real Estate. I can juggle tennis balls, but I have a hard time having two bowling balls in the air at the same time; they are a little heavy! And especially when I intend for my real estate ball to grow into something larger than myself one day.

But with you all here - let's do this: If I don't have at least one more item in my little online shop by next weekend you have to promise to NEVER buy anything from me, promise!

What NOT to do

This is what experienced Etsy sellers have said about what NOT to do when just getting started:

• Don't buy shipping supplies at retail (I just got my U-Line shipping catalog)
• Have great pictures - they can always get better
• Bookkeeping 
• Do not waste money on etsy showcases
• List more items (New) instead of renew them
• Don't underprice
• Only accept custom orders if they fit into your own collection
• Don't use Etsy as your only venture, try to sell on fairs and shows too
• Download Etsy hacks (I did - they are great - get yours at www.etsyhacks.com)
• Try to answer the question: "Why would anyone buy from me" 
• Be specific in the item description (I probably need to work on this one)
• USPS pick up service if your orders are getting out of hand (Yeah, I am not there yet)
• Be prepared for Xmas! (How exciting)
• Manage your inventory (This is hard when you have no idea what and how much people are going to buy from you)
• PayPal shipping - (So far I have only don't the Click-N-Ship with USPS and it works great!)
• Moo Cards (don't even know what that is)
• Join a etsy team... (still on my to do list)

Some great TIPS!! I am trying all I can - all I am missing is the sales I am looking for.

I think he loves me...

Yup, I am still going strong with my 5 am wake-up time. I have to say that I was tempted to stay in bed today tough but I didn't. And I got things done - had to finish up some dance moves for my classes tonight (I know I am a last minute kind of person) I cut out some new pieces for some baby dresses, will start sewing them tomorrow morning probably.

My husband is really loving my little change. He get's to go to bed with me, and when he wakes up I am awake and even happy, haha! And today I even served him some eggs and bacon. ~ Hope he doesn't expect me to do that every morning now.

Uploaded a denim romper today - I have been getting a lot of comments from friends about it, but no sale so far. We will see, it is bit expensive but I honestly can't price it lower because of all detail work it has with visible jean stitches. And I can't underestimate my own work - that would just be wrong!

Can you guys believe it is Friday tomorrow.. 

Comming Soon

I don't want to show you the whole piece yet... but this is what I am working on right NOW. Just sitting down while my (only) two silk screens are drying so I can use them again for step 2.

Ready Set...

... I really don't have time to sit here and blog, but I need a break from all the crafting. I was working until 4.30 am Saturday morning from the time I came home from my day time work on Friday afternoon. I woke up at 8.30am today and kept going..

During the Phillies game I just couldn't keep my eyes open anymore and took a well needed nap. Now I am ready to GO again!

My overnight task is to start my screen printing. Have been setting it up all day today even had to go and get some supplies and off course I found a fabric that I could not resist buying. I have no idea of what to do with it yet, but at least I have it! :D

Tomorrow I plan to upload my first item on my Etsy shop! 

Here are my 'new' labels after having two misspelled words on the old ones: 

New fabric, any suggestions of what would look good with it? 

No Time

Last night after work I was once again working on small little things. Sewing on some buttons on a few items that I didn't know what to do with when I for a few days thought we weren't allowed to use buttons on children's clothing... I think I hate sewing on buttons - it is so slow! ;p

I also received all my items I ordered for my screen printing - So I will be busy all night Friday I just know it. I washed them all yesterday so they are ready for when I need it. I also fixed my washing labels so they are spelled right - and also found that Photoshop DOES have spell check! Ahhhh :D

This morning I was TIRED and realized that I didn't take a shower before I went to bed the night before, which is usually my night habits so I had to get into the shower in the morning because I WILL NOT go without washing my hair for more than 30 hours - but that left me NO time to get it all ready. Luckily it was already warm outside by the time I went to work so I was doing an all natural hair blowing thing in the car with the windows down - and it WORKED! My hair was dry (and a little messy) by the time I got there... but that is why there are ponytails :D For girls like me!!

You will not believe this!

Ok.. for you to really believe it I should take a picture.. but here is a sample instead:

Great huh?!?!!! I spelled both WASH and CHLORINE wrong!!!
It only tells me that I should not work with stuff like this until early morning after a long day at my daytime job.

I blame a little on it on Photoshop and it not having spell check. I live for spell check, that is why I changed from Explorer to Firefox even!

But I still can't believe I made this kind of mistake, I really can't! Time to proof read everything about 10 times!! But I always say that... I wonder when I am actually going to learn, or see my own mistakes - anyone have any idea? Is my issue incurable?

So it may not have been that bad, but I have actually made two sets of this kind of labels that is supposed to go on the side seam in all my items... and 4 of them are already attached to some dresses. Crazy!!

A well, what to do - at least I noticed it before sending the dresses out to customers. THAT would have been embarrassing! So now I will make new ones... I actually finished up some other labels today as I needed some with 6mts, 12mts, 18mts, and 24mts on them. The work will go on...

First Project

I started my first project this weekend. But I changed my mind probably 10 times along the way - making the whole process a bit longer than what I had planned on.

I have also realized that I have to get some ergonomic help when it comes to my sewing... My shoulders are killing me!!! What are you guys using to help with proper position while sewing? It will have to be something easy and nothing big since I live pretty small with my hubby.

Well, my first project is underway and my ambition is to have the first 4 sizes done by next weekend. My first is a silky light retro dress for baby girls NB-24 mounts. Hopefully it will be liked.