Newest Rasta Water Pipe Bag! Special order completed, shipped and ready for action.

     I never would have imagined this becoming what it has in the past 9 months since I opened my Etsy.com shop.  As a hobbie for most of my life doing crochet has always been just something to help me kill the time when I'm bored or working and the call volume is slow.  I never imagined that I would be selling stuff all across the US and now even INTERNATIONALLY!!!

     My latest sale came from Texarkana, TX.  The customer wanted a padded water pipe case that was 20" tall and had a diameter of 8" at the base.  She had originally bought my rainbow pouch but wanted it in rasta colors instead.  I was so excited to make a new one.  The colors are simple to come by.  Green yellow and red.  The design was a simple striped pattern with even color spacing using a double crochet stitch.  For even the beginner crocheters out there this is a simple and easily adaptable pattern to make any size pouch or bag.  My signature drawstring top helps with easy open and close and I always throw in a matching bowl pouch that is detachable. 
     My pride and joy of this pouch is the green satin lining my husband found for this one.  It is not only super soft but it has sparkles in it too. I just love how amazing it turned out. 

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

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!  :)

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

Tophatter Frustrations!!!! Am I the only one???

Many of you know that I recently joined and started selling my stuff on a site called Tophatter.

TopHatter Auctions

They are a live auction site where you can list your goods and then schedule and attend their daily auctions to sell your stuff.  Or so they say when you sign up.  What they didn't tell me at first was that I would only be able to schedule one item at a time for sale.  That part is not that big of a deal, it's not like I have a TON of stuff to list.  Plus if it all sold, I would have to completely re-do my Etsy site, (not that it would be a bad thing to have to do that) but they also don't tell you that they don't have a lot of "open" slots for their auctions, so it is really hard to even get a chance to schedule something. 

Of course, they will immediately let you schedule your first item, I'm sure they have PLENTY of slots open for "new" members, but once you sell something, good luck trying to get another item scheduled. I sold my Light Purple Open Weave Slouchy Beanie with Sparkly Bow on Feb 29th, 2012 and haven't been able to schedule anything since.  I have been trying to schedule my Light Blue Homespun Open Weave Slouchy pictured below with absolutely no luck.

I have been trying for 2 weeks now.  I finally tried "chatting" with the auction staff today and a very UNHELPFUL lady named Aimee just told me that they have limited slots and if you want to check on a new slot you MUST be signed into your lot at 8am PST everyday morning to even get a chance, and even then the slots are first come first serve and very limited.

The totally awful part about that is I have to get my daughter on the bus for school at 8am PST everyday.  I'm never gonna get a chance to list another item.  The only good piece of advice she gave me was that some auctions go "outdoors" after and then you can schedule an item that day for that auction if you are currently attending it and catch one of the slots.

So I'm gonna try that today because I have to wait for Comcast to come and check out my whole internet connection again.  Something happened with the wind and snow from Monday and Tuesday and it is making me have to blog from my phone.  This sucks!  Believe me,  for a post that would usually take me less than 5 minutes to compose it has now taken me the better part of an hour.  The joys of technology!

I just don't know what to do, I haven't sold a single hat this month, and I'm starting to get really sad.  I have had a lot of compliments about how nice my work is, but no one wants to buy my stuff.  I don't get it.  I can't let myself get down in the dumps about it because then my creativity gets put on hold and it turns into a vicious circle that I can't break free of.  I have to keep myself busy and trying new things.  I bought a pattern from the Tophatter site, it's an Ammigamuri Turtle that is so cute.  I've never tried to make animals before but this pattern seemed really fun and my sister is OBSESSED with them and her birthday is on the 10th of April which is coming up.  I know she would love it if I surprised her with a cute stuffed turtle in her favorite colors.  She has two kids who would go nuts over it.  I might have to make two come to think of it.  :)

Plus I found my HUGE bag of yarn that I bought at Michael's when they were having their yarn sale and found some really pretty colors that I could make things out of.  Not sure what yet, but I'll just have to see where my hook takes me.  You see that is why I love this art form so much.  I have no idea what I'm going to make half the time, I just grab my hook and start going, but by the time it's finished I am always happy with what it turns out to be, and in the off chance I'm not happy with it, I can always take it out and start over with something different.  That's the beauty of it.  It always turns out to be what YOU wanted it to be, nothing more, nothing less, as long as you put in the work.

That's all for me this morning, I have a ton of things to do around the house before the Comcast guy gets to come and track dirt all through it.  FUN!



Wishes of Love and Crafty Creations Always,


Mrz Jaques

www.etsy.com/mrzjaquescrochetedit

www.facebook.com/mrzjaquescrochetedit

Wednesday is hump day.......

I guess they call this day of the week hump day for a reason right?  It not only is the exact MIDDLE of the work week but it is also that day that seems to take FOREVER!!!  It to me is the longest day of the week by far.  At least that seems to be how my brain likes to perceive it.  Today I am finding it hard to get motivated to do anything productive.  I thought that I would have a lot of success with my last hat, the pink and brown one, and yet it seems that no one is interested at all.  My moral for wanting to keep going is depleting more and more each day with no sales, and less and less views of my stuff.  I know that building and audience and clientele takes time.  I just really wish there were something that would happen that would make it easier to wait and be patient.  Patience is my worst character flaw.  I have absolutely none when it comes to getting something I really want.  It helps when I use that motivation to do something good, like create new and beautiful things, but it can play the other angle and completely ruin my ability to think of new things until I get something I have already made sold again.

That Tophatter auction site I joined, sold my second item for a pretty decent price.  It was my Light Purple Homespun Open Weave Slouchy with Sparkly Bow.

  But now I can't even list my other items on there for another auction for some reason.  I can't sell anything if I can't list it, so I'm super bummed and frustrated about that.  I opened a new site thru Copius which has gotten a few hits but no one buying.  I have begun work on a new hat, Pink and Brown again but a totally different design.  More even with the colors.  I'm just hoping that after a few more weeks, when the weather gets nicer and I have more time to work on my stuff, I will have more people interested again.  I am doing the Pick-a-dilly flea market in Eugene on March 19 so if you live in the area, come by and see my stuff in person!

Monday Blues......bring Tuesday Beauties!

I have been dreaming about a pink and brown pattern since my friend Tanessa came to me with the idea a few weeks ago.  I had looked and looked to find the perfect shades and couldn't find them anywhere until the other day at Wal-mart of all places I see the two sitting right next to each other.  Funny how that works out huh?  So I am trying this new pattern out.  And I really hope it turns out good.  So far I am losing interest in my Etsy site and I  don't know why.  Is it because I don't have any new stuff?  I have made new stuff and posted it but I used to get like 100 views in a day and now it's more like 20.  I hope that having something new and cute will make people interested again.  I'm not sure what else to do.  I have my Facebook page.  I have this, and I also have both a Google plus page and a Craftsy site but they all seem to be not getting me the attention I need.

Ok so enough complaining, that's not what this is about.  I want to explain to you how this new pattern came into my head.  I have this weird obsession that makes me dream about the things that I am passionate about.  At work with Enterprise, if I have a bad day or a bad call that sticks with me, I will have a dream about it and figure out a better way to handle the situation in the future.  With my yarn, it shows me patterns and beautiful creations.  Sometimes they work out exactly like I had imagined, and then sometimes they take a little playing with, like I'm finding out with this one!  I have restarted this thing for the 3rd time now.  At least with each new start it gets better.  I am finding that doing the pink diamonds is a little more complicated than I had originally thought it to be.  No worries that is what years of experience has taught me.  Patience is the key with beautiful yarn creations.  Sometimes you have to take it out 10 times before you get a pattern to work right.

For instance,  this one I ended up taking out 5 times before I figured out exactly how the pink was going to lay correctly.  You can see in the pics the design of the pink in contrast to the brown.  I was going for more of a diamond shape but it didn't quite work out as good as I wanted.  The top looks like a five pointed star under the poof-ball I put on top.  I had no idea that making a poof-ball would be a complicated as it ended up being too!  So after much hard work, I have completed my newest hat.  I will be posting it later on this afternoon so stay tuned!  Now I am off to think of another beautiful idea to create until I have to bring myself to work on that afghan again.  It'll be done.................someday  :)

Black Basket Weave Adult Female Crocheted Beanie with Sparkly Black Bow

You know when you get an idea stuck in your head and until you make it you can't stop thinking about it?  That was this pattern.  I have been dreaming, and thinking about it for about 3 days now and haven't really been able to do much with it because my black yarn was tied up in making my table runner for my new house.  So when I finally finished that and was able to get this started I couldn't believe how great it would really turn out.  In my mind I had an idea of what I wanted it to look like, having the triple crochet's overlap the previous row, but when it came together, as always, the yarn completely surprised me.  It is way better than I would have imagined.  It has a great texture to it that you can't really see in the pictures.  Believe it or not, I thought this was going to turn out more like a slouchy than an actual beanie but as you can see from the finished product, it is a perfect beanie cap. 

Thanks for looking!

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Homepsun Surprise! Blue with hints of Purple

Yarn is one of the most interesting (or boring according to my husband) things I can ever talk about. To me it is such an amazing medium. When I go shopping for yarn, I see the outside of a skein. When it is balled up and you can only see the outside colors. I am a very visual person so when I see something on the "outside" I try to imagine what it will look like as a finished product and buy accents to go with the picture I have in my head.

This yarn, Lyons Brand Homespun is my favorite yarn EVER!!! I have bought multiple skeins in all different colors and each time I buy one that is not a solid color but has some crazy name like 'Colonial' or 'Waterfall' it never turns out to be the same colors I had imagined in my head.

With this one which is called 'Colonial' I had pictured in my head a more medium color blue with grey accents throughout, but as you can see it is not just the blue and grey. Purple accents are everywhere. They are very subtle in some parts and then they are more dense around the back of the hat. It's simply spectacular! Had I known that when I was buying my ribbons to go with I would have tried to find a soft purple and blue ribbon to go with maybe.

With the ribbons I decided that the navy blue wasn't enough on it's own, and neither was the light blue, so I put them together. Little did I know that when they were against one another the light blue has a line of shimmer that totally stands out against the dark navy blue of the other one. I am terrible at tying bows, so this one I just couldn't get to look right for the pictures but when you put it on it looks super cute. This isn't the hat I was talking about in my previous post, that one is still in the works so stay tuned.

That's all for me today, I have a long weekend and a lot of work to do to get ready for the show I am planning on doing for the 18th of March. If I decided to actually do it then I will post location and times if you want to come by and see my stuff in person. Thanks for looking!!!

:)

My table can finally run free!

So by combining my love for crochet with my love for zebra print and things I can make that at least kinda look like it they have come together to create this "table runner" which is really cool, kinda funky, and totally me!  My house as I have previously posted is all decorated in Black white and red so I have been working on making other things to go along with my theme.  This is my first finished creation.  The boarder didn't turn out as good as I wanted but I am not taking it out and starting over, I am just glad to be done with it.  Talk about a "pain in the butt" pattern.  With my hats it's not as bad with switching colors because you are going around in a circle and not going back and forth.  You have no idea how many times I found myself tangled up in the red yarn .  Not the black or white, no no..... always the stupid red!  It's really beautiful on the coffee table, and I'm super proud of how it turned out for my first and only table runner I have ever tried.  I can tell you one thing about it though, unless someone begs me repeatedly, I'm not gonna make another one like this.  I am still hard at work on my afghan and it is slowly coming along.  I need to go buy at least 6 more skeins of the yarn before I get it done but that can come in a few days.  I am in the middle of a new hat right now that has my full attention.  It is a surprise design that it turning out a little more complicated than I wanted but it is ABSOLUTELY beautiful and I am pretty sure it will be a big seller when it's done.  Wish me luck! 

Black and white and red all over!

So the theme to my new house is black, white and red.  I've never been able to completely decorate my own house with whatever colors I wanted because I've either been living at my husband's parents house, or in one of their rentals which his mother decorates in her own colors, and then you are left to coordinate with that.  Not much fun if you ask me.  The whole point of moving into a new house is to make the space your own, am I right?  

I was so excited to find my carpet in this new house to be a neutral color because I have been obsessed with black, white and red.  I had already started the afghan for our bedroom, but then started on the table runner which is taking longer than expected but is almost done, and now I am working on a pattern for a center piece for my kitchen table.  

I found this really cool picture of a rose set on a black background at the Goodwill which is a perfect accent to the walls.  All we have hanging right now is our family pictures from this year.  Surprisingly we did our pictures in black, white and red.  It wasn't intentional either, we had just bought this really cute dress for our daughter that was black and red, then found a white, black and red sweater for my son, a red dress for me, and black and red sweater for my husband.  When we were putting up the pictures I laughed when I noticed how perfect they were going to go with my whole theme.  

To me it's so funny how my life falls together.  By no fault of my own I feel like sometimes the things that happen in my life are just magical.  The "I HAVE to have that" moments in a store, or the OCD freak-outs I have about making sure everyone matches and coordinates, that make absolutely no sense at the time, but seem to be absolutely perfect later on.  I love it.  

People used to tell me that I have no sense of style.  I don't care what other people think are cool.......it's true that I don't keep up on the "latest fashions" because I am not worried about that kind of stuff.  I'm a Mom.  I have two kids who take up the majority of my time and energy.  However, I do think I have a pretty good sense of style.  I walk to a different beat, but that beat is up tempo and exciting.  I love creating new things, and making things beautiful.  I am a beautiful person (inside) and I love to show people the beauty that can be found in this world with just a little imagination.  

I leave you with this thought for today.......

If everyone looked and acted the same, this would be a boring world.  Be COLORFUL!!!!

Little Girls Mint Green Fingerless Gloves

For the most part I wanted this set of gloves to be elegant and stylish while serving the purpose of keeping your hand warm while your fingers are free to do whatever.  I think in a way I achieved my goal because they are absolutely adorable!  The mint green of the yarn has a shimmer to it that sparkles in the sunlight, and then adding the sparkly black bow to match the hat's I have in my Mommy and Me sets just made them perfect.  I was thinking about splitting up the hats, and making the child size a set of gloves and hat together and then doing the same for the mommy set, but I want to be able to take a picture of them on a little girl together for my posting before I do that.  So far I have just decided that the gloves are perfect on their own.  I have found that the bow needs to be untied before the gloves are put on though because if it is left tied, you can't slip your hands all the way in.  It's not a difficult bow so it's pretty simple to just re-tie them after you put them on.  A little girl would need mom's help of course.

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For the guys! Mens Super Soft Homespun Blue Beanie

For the guys! 

 

 

 

 

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Purple Orange and Black Slouchy Beanie

Love the way this turned out!  I have an obsession with a few different color combinations.  As you can see from my other posts and pieces that my main obsession right now is Black, White and Red.  My whole house is going to be decked out in those colors and I am madly creating everything I can think of to bring my house together, but the second color combination I can't seem to get enough of is Purple and Orange.  Since I can remember Orange has been my favorite color.  It started with a boyfriend who loved the color orange and loved when I wore anything orange because he said it brought out the color of my eyes.  They are a golden hazel color with green and blue hues in them, and for some reason Orange just makes those blues and greens pop out.  So began my love for orange.  Not long after that disastrous relationship ended I started wearing purple and orange together.  Not really sure why, but I worked then and it's still working now.  I hope you enjoy! 

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Pastel Rainbow Open Weave Slouchy Beanie

Have you ever just wanted to find a hat that you could wear with pretty much anything?  If its spring time and you're a girl, this hat is just that.  The soft pastel colors are simply amazing and the way the yarn laid itself out is spectacular.  I have gone back and forth about whether or not I should put a bow in this one but I have decided that whoever buys it can decide if they want a bow.  I think it's perfect just the way it is.  I have warn it once just to see the reactions that people would give me and it has been awesome!  I have worn my other hats around for just the same reason, and some get attention some don't but I literally had 5 people stop me in the mall and ask where I got it from.  Great business since I had my new business cards with me at the time, but you can see that this hat just get's noticed for it's elegant beauty.  I hope you enjoyed my post!  I'm trying to be more personal on here but I'm not always the best at putting my words down in writing.

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