I love the Holidays! Busy Busy Busy!

So far this year has been amazing!  My very first year "in the business" and everything has been going so well.  Not only have I made a lot of new friends thru the Etsy.com community but also I have had the opportunity to sell INTERNATIONALLY.  My first international sale back in August was to Australia.  There are so many things I learned by having to ship internationally that I had never expected before.  There are TWO different types of Custom Forms to choose from, and it is BEST to have the Post office or FedEx place help you decide which one you are supposed to fill out.  In my case because my items are merchandise, non-perishable items, they have me fill out the simple customs form.  My most recent sale that was international was to Barcelona, Spain.  

This got shipped this afternoon!  

The best part about making things by hand is that more and more people now a days are starting to truly appreciate the hard work and artistry it can take.  More and more people are willing to order things from people like me because they know what I make is HAND CRAFTED, and no two items are ever alike.  Even if you purchase the same item, because even the same color yarn can have a different length in between colors or even thickness, no matter what you do, each item is one of a kind.  They are all beautiful, that is what I love.  I have been crocheting for over 23 years, so my technique is quite exceptional, so the only thing that is really a surprise in my work is what the yarn does while I am creating a new masterpiece.

These two were my most recent sale of my "One of a kind" slouchy hats.  I love Lion Brand Homespun yarn.  I have said it a thousand times and I will continue to say it.  No matter what color I have bought, it never ceases to amaze me with the finished product.

And I can't forget this little beauty!  This is one of my other best sellers.  Sold 3 so far this year!  I love how amazing they all come out when they are complete.  This is a Secret Santa present!  Goddess, I love the holidays.  :)

Yardseller.com is the BEST site out there for selling pretty much anything.

     So I have had my Etsy.com/shops/Mrzjaquescrochetedit up and running for a little under 9 months now, and it is finally coming together.  I am getting special order requests, and selling things overseas as well as all across the US and Canada, so to me in less than one year of being in business, that's a pretty big accomplishment  .  I found this new site called Yardseller.com and it works with Facebook really well so that when you list your items on there, they post to your facebook page and get you a ton of exposure thru there too.  Just in the past month I have sold 5 items from that site.  In the last 9 months, my total sales across all of the different sites I have tried is 19.  For only doing this as a hobbie at first this has definitely become much more than that.  I find myself dreaming of a new idea, and then getting up in the middle of the night sometimes just to start on it to see if it will work.  My latest sale on Yardseller was one of my Spectacular Slouchy Mimosa Beanie.  I have actually sold two of them from that site.  It's truly amazing.  I have had only one not so great experience, but I am making up for it.  I received a special order for a black and purple Super Slouchy, so I made it like I normally do, however the first one I made came out SUPER Small, like child size.  Different yarn does that sometimes.  So I made another one a lot bigger, but when she got it, she said that it was still too small  since she has dreads that need to fit in it.  Me being who I am and completely  customer oriented, I offered that if she sends the old one back I will make her a special one out of my favorite Lion Brand Homespun yarn and make it EXTRA SUPER SLOUCHY.  I have a feeling this new one is going to be much more of what she was wanting.  I want to make sure all my customers are COMPLETELY SATISFIED otherwise I will do whatever I can do fix it.  Quality work is what I do.  And I make no exceptions.  I want you to love what you purchase from me, and be proud to tell your friends where you got it from.  Person to person exposure is the best free advertising out there. 

Candy Apple Red Lion Brand Homespun Slouchy Beanie

Ok so it might be helpful so actually put something in the body of this blog posting right?  That's what happens when you get side tracked trying to do 5 things at a time.  Us girls pride ourselves on the simple fact that we can multitask very well.  It is something that is just ingrained into our DNA and sadly enough it is not so for most of our male counterparts.  It is something that just comes very naturally to us, or at least  most of the women in my life including myself.  I was busy posting the hat on Etsy so that someone would want to buy it possibly and totally forgot to finish my blog post about it over here. 

When it comes to Lion Brand Homespun Yarn, you know that I am a lifetime lover and user!  If they ever went out of business (which I highly doubt they ever COULD) I would be the saddest woman in the entire world for at least a month.  I won't know what to do with myself.  When we go to the yarn store, I make sure that I set a budget so I can make sure and get at least one new color of this brand of yarn.  They never cease to amaze me with the brilliance of the colors when the hats are finished.  This yarn is the most beautiful candy apple red color and the softest texture you have ever felt.  I say this in every post about it because in case you are a new reader and haven't heard my previous rants about this wonderful product..... THIS YARN ROCKS!!!!  Whether it's a hat, a pair of gloves, a new scarf, a sweater, a cellphone pouch, you name it, this yarn can make it the softest thing you have ever felt.  It's like they somehow were able to take the softness of rabbits fur, blend it with silk and string it together into amazingly colored yarns.  If I could afford to buy stock in this I would!  I have alone spent $1000 on this brand of yarn to make hats, gloves, pouches and even an afghan for my bed.  

 

So to get back to this awesome hat.  My mother loves the color red.  I have seen a ton of postings on Yardseller.com which is a new site I'm trying out asking for RED slouchy beanies.  REAL DEEP RED, not Coral or Salmon colored.  RED.  So since I had that color at home, and was already making a ton of hats while my camera wasn't working, I decided to add that color to the mix.  It turned out way better than I had planned.  I really hope this is as much of a hit as I think it will be.  There are a lot of people who just want an elegant Red hat that they can wear on any occasion.  This is that hat!

 

Thanks for looking y'all.  I really appreciate your support!

Cheers!

Mrz J.