Another Satisfied Special Order Customer!

     Even though it's a slow time of year, I am happy to say that I made another sale!  My love for my Chihuahua, Ducati has finally paid off.  His Halloween costume from last year, the Football, was asked for by one of my Etsy customers.  I am so happy to say that it is finished and on it's way to warm it's new owner.  My little guy is 3 now and since he was a puppy I have always felt so bad in the winter time when he would just sit there and shiver all day long.  Even in the summer on a cold, rainy day he would do it too, so I make him sweaters of all types.  Little did I know that it is very common for his breed to shiver all the time even when they are not really cold, but nervous too, but for what ever reason, he doesn't shake and shiver when he's wearing one of his sweaters.  So now I have ones made especially for the summer that keep him cool, but make him less nervous apparently too.  :)  I hope that this is the same for my new found friend.

Etsy Listing for Dog Sweaters

Lion Brand Homespun "Painted Desert" Open Weave Slouchy Beanie

     

     When you live in a town like I do, where the majority of the population is very health and environmentally conscious, you see a lot of very "Earthy" colors being used with the daily decor and style.  I for one am NOT like that, and LOVE to have a lot of bright beautiful colors in my wardrobe because it always seems to bring up my mood.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the look of the Earthy tones that seem to go perfectly with the Pacific Northwest where I live, I just can't wear them very much.  My skin tone needs bright colors in order to stay looking healthy.  If I wear greens and browns, I tend to look washed out and sick when I'm actually feeling great.  (Not exactly the attention I'm looking for when out on the town, if you ask me.)  I want to hear things like, "Wow, that hat really brings out the color in your eyes." or "Where did you get that amazing hat?" 

     I bought a skein of yarn knowing what these colors would normally do to my skin tone, but I decided to try it anyway, because with a name like Painted Desert, it wasn't just going to be greens and browns.  It had to have more to it.  In my head I was imagining more of a mossy forest kinda blend from what was shown on the skein, just hoping to find those hidden magical colors that really bring the hat together.  Like this yarn always does, it ceased to amaze me.  I had absolutely no idea that there was purple, turquoise, orange, green, and the soft brown that they have throughout.  

     When I found the end piece to start the hat and it was that amazing turquoise color, I just about lost it.  I have never seen such an amazing blend of such natural colors that remind me of exactly what the yarn is named, Painted Desert.  If you have ever been to the Painted Desert in Arizona then you have seen the amazing spectrum of colors splashed across those hills, and this yarn truly captures the essence of it's beauty.  I tried wearing this hat, and was simply amazed at the constant compliments I got walking through the mall and downtown.  I was stopped almost every 50 to 100 feet and asked where I had gotten it.  

     I have found that carrying my business cards with me when I wear my hats is a great way to drive business.  Whenever someone asks me where I got my hat, I pull out my business card and tell them "I got it from Mrz Jaques Crocheted It on Etsy."  Who knows if it's actually going to get something sold but at least it has been getting my name out there.  

     Well that's all for me today.  I have to go and see the doctor.  Booh!   Wish me luck!

Wishes of crafty and creative crochet creations!  Cheers!

Mrz Jaques

Custom Ordered Iphone4 Pouch with Fuchsia Satin Liner and Matching Button!

     About a week ago I was checking on my Etsy Shop stats and saw that I had a new person "favorite" my shop, so like I always do, I sent her a message, letting her know that I love doing custom orders, and if there is anything specific she is looking for but didn't see, I could probably make it.  Well she immediately wrote back and asked if I could make a custom pouch for her new iPhone4 that she just got a MAGNIFICENT "Bling" case for that she has already lost two of the crystals out of.  I jumped on the opportunity, OBVIOUSLY!  A chance to try and make something new?  DUH!!!

     So for the past week we have been communicating thru emails and text messages to work out the perfect case, which as you can see from the pictures is nothing like the ones I have done in the past.  I was so excited when it was all finished and I sent her the pictures, because she absolutely LOVES IT!!!  The process of making it was quite comical really.

     So after we worked out the perfect yarn and color, we debated on the top design, and finally decided upon the envelope look with the button.  Trying to find that button, in the right size and color was an adventure to say the least.  You'd think that Michael's would have a TON of buttons, but they must have just done a huge sale because they had only a small portion of one isle and there were only a few to choose from.  I got lucky though and found this one.  The awesome part about the liner was I already had the perfect color so that worked out great.

     Okay, so I get the pouch made, figure out the liner and the button situation, and before when I was sewing in the liner I was using my Mother in-laws sewing machine, which has since been taken back to her house and I didn't have at my immediate disposal.  So I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to find a decent sewing machine for myself for not a HUGE investment.  After going to 10 different stores, I finally find a brand new one for like $80.  Totally do-able.  I bring it home, sew in the liner, and get the pics out to her.  She loves it but is worried that the phone won't fit.  I don't have an iPhone and neither does my husband.  Randomly one of his best friends is ON HIS WAY OVER and he happens to have an iPhone4 with a case on it.  So I snap a few pics of the pouch with HIS phone which is what is posted above and viola!  It's a done deal.  I added a strap, which I am picturing below for good measure.  It's awesome and I am so proud!  :)

Lion Brand Homespun..... Oops, I've been miss spelling it this whole time! :)

     I feel like an absolute dummy because of this but I got a comment on one of my hats that the name of the Yarn that I love so much isn't Lyons Brand it's just plain Lion Brand Homespun.  Silly little me hadn't even really looked at the logo on the skeins before and assumed it was someone's last name not the animal.  Oops, my bad!

     Well I am officially correcting myself.  I am also going to be posting the awesome names of the different colors I have been using as well, that is as long as I can find them again.  :)  The hat I am referring to that got the comment was my Pastel Rainbow Open Weave Slouchy Beanie.  The name of the yarn for that is Tudor, which I sold by the way, thru a site called Style.ly and I love them!  I had that hat posted for less than a week and someone bought it!  AWESOME!!!!

     They require a tracking number to be verified which usually takes like 1-3 business days before you see the payment in your Paypal but after that you get the whole amount, not a penny is taken out for the Paypal transaction!  It was, (yep I'm gonna say it again) awesome!  It totally brought me out of my funk of not selling anything.  It also made me think about going out and buying random colors with cool names and seeing what they turned out to be like.

     For example, I got this new color called Mimosa, you know the drink right?  So I'm thinking by the way the colors on the skein are that it's going to be this cool purple and pink with a cream color mixed in..... NOPE!!!  I mean, don't get me wrong, you can see that it DOES have those colors, but it also has orange and yellow that blend in and out of it.  It's truly spectacular!  I'm a big fan of anything pink and purple, especially when it blends in a little bit of orange!!!!  I'm going to make another hat for me to keep out of this yarn for sure!!!!  I need to find a bow to go with it if I'm going to make one for me. 

I don't even know what else to say about it.  Words don't even begin to express what seeing this amazing hat in person does.  I think I'm going to end it with just that.  Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of their weekend!

Cheers!

Mrz Jaques

I'm trying out a Facebook Auction. Come check it out! Auction ends 3/31/2012 at midnight.

 After my fiasco with Tophatter Auctions I started asking questions to other members of the site to see how they are getting their things scheduled and then eventually sold.  One amazingly wonderful member told me about how she does more than just the Tophatter auctions she holds her own on her Facebook Fan page which are way more successful and you don't have to pay the fees that they REQUIRE with Tophatter.  I have spent almost DOUBLE what I made off of the two items I sold on that site just trying to get my stuff into their stupid auctions and then all I got was 15 seconds of exposure before they closed the lot and it was over.  I'm sorry but I'm BEYOND pissed off at that stupid site.  If I had it my way I would put them out of business.  You don't treat people the way they treated me and get away with it.  I am however leaving this up to karma because it is not worth ANYMORE of my time or energy to even think about them.  I'm DONE with Tophatter auctions, and if you are smart you would stay away from them all together.

Ok so enough about that.  My auction is running right now thru the end of the month.  Each item has a starting price listed in the description of the picture if you click on it.  Bidding is done thru the comments on each picture and the highest bidder is the winner of each hat at midnight the 31st.  There are two options of paying, one is if you are a personal friend you can pay cash and I don't charge the $4 shipping because I can hand deliver it or you can pay thru PayPal via Etsy.com and that will give me your mailing address.  (I will still be paying the etsy fee's for that option but I'm totally okay with it because THEY ARE LEGITIMATE!!!)  All the items will then be shipped via USPS with delivery confirmations on Monday morning the 2nd of April so you can have your item before Easter.  I am hoping to be able to post about this being a super good way to drive business to your etsy site when it's all said and done because I know I am not the only one who is struggling to get views to my shop and anything that will help drive business there will in turn keep people coming back again and again. 

Etsy has been such an amazing site when it comes to supporting us small business owners and artists.  They also have an AMAZING network of people to work with who are amazing artists themselves.  I have met more down to earth and just plain GREAT people working with them than I ever have working with other sites.  That is one of the reason's why I am trying so hard to support more people going there and becoming part of the Etsy Community.  Come check out the auction and if you get a moment, check out my Shop too.

Go to Auction!

Thanks for reading!

Cheers!

Mrz Jaques