In a really cool treasury!

We're being featured in a really cool treasury! It's a pay it forward treasury- if you buy something that's being featured, you can replace that item's spot in the treasury with one of your own choice from your own shop. So we're all getting ahead! It's such a thoughtful thing that one of our team members from VA is for Etsy- she's systematically featuring as many of her team members as she can before the treasury expires. Check it out- you may just end up with a spot of your own when you see the irresistible items in the treasury. VA holds a ton of talent!

My favorite pounce!

I am so thrilled to announce this week's pounce, because she's a personal friend of mine! I've been a fan of her work for a long time, and she's got an etsy store now where I can buy her pictures for my house! She's actually the one who took our family portraits about five months ago- the ones that are now all over my house and my mom's house. I love the way she captured our personalities- our individual personalities and our family personality. I'm so glad to welcome CiaoBellaPhotography to etsy! Please check out her shop and send her some love!

Here are some of the pictures she took of us, because she did such a beautiful job!

She's also got two photography blogs that I love to follow. One's for her business, and the other is her personal goal to take and post one photo a day. I love seeing what inspires her, and I alway seem to get some of my own inspiration from her work. Good luck, Cate!

Pounced

This week's pounced seller comes from Sydney! SugarandSpiceCharms creates handmade resin pendants for necklaces- and they are beautiful! I had to click through all of the listings and see everything in the shop. They're each so unique. This one's my favorite, though. I can picture my little sister wearing it, and that girl has class.

Also, I noticed that this seller has 100% positive feedback. Just one more thing.

One thing I really liked about her shop was the pictures. They're all very similar- same lighting and mannequin (got to get one of those. Where do you buy a mannequin?) so I'm sure I'll be able to recognize her work when she starts popping up in treasuries. I saved her in my favorites for when I start creating my own treasuries, too!

Be sure to visit her shop and send some hearts her way! Welcome to Etsy, SugarandSpiceCharms!

Our week in pictures

Anna's been busy, busy, busy! She's our chief jewelry maker at Livieswhimsies, and she's been working really hard lately to get her jewelry ready for adding to the shop. And they've been added!

I'm a little burnt out on booties at the moment, but I promise I'll have them in the shop soon. But I'm also really excited about some ideas for vintage-inspired clutch-type purses. I love a good clutch! and I'm really hoping you'll find one of mine that you can love, too. I want all these pieces to find good, loving homes!

weekly pounced

This week's pounce is a really cool shop called Amy's wired designs. Every week we use the etsy pounce tool to find a new shop with no sales, and spotlight them on our blog so hopefully the world can see how stinking cool they are. We couldn't pass up Amy's fantastic barrettes. Her shop can be found at amyswireddesigns.etsy.com . We usually try to find a favorite item to highlight, but Anna and I couldn't decide between this unique barrette and these beautiful earrings. We love how sparkly and feminine the earrings are, but that barrette is really something. My favorite part is the tiny little coils lining the sides. Having tried to make things from wire myself, I can imagine how much work went into these, and I have to admire them. Welcome to etsy, Amy, and good luck! Be sure to stop by her shop and send some hearts her way!

Also, we will be reviewing our weekly pounces every two months to check up on our favorites, and let you know what kind of progress they've made. I can't wait to see how well Amy's wired designs is going to do!

Whew!

What a crazy week it's been so far! I haven't accomplished all my goals for the week yet, but I have been very busy slowly crossing them off my list. First off, let me just tell you that snow days are very fun around our house. Anna and I have been crafting non-stop (well, almost. There was a chick flick or two) and we've been sitting by the fire as a family, trying to keep warm. I'm a little relieved to see the kids go back to school today, but I doubt there will be school tomorrow, and I'll be ready for another snow day after today.

As promised, this was a week of baby booties. I'm still working on perfecting them, but here are some not-yet perfected ones to tantalize you until they're ready. This one is from a pattern I bought at mamachee.etsy.com. She has some really incredible patterns, and they're very easy to understand for beginner and intermediate crocheters. They have a little strap that goes over two buttons. I love that these have a definite right and left foot, since often baby booties don't.

Thisis my first pattern that I've ever created! I like these because they're double-soled, so they're really soft on baby's feet- but also very sturdy against baby's teeth. If your baby is anything like mine, her tastes in fashion have a lot to do with her actual tastebuds. Fortunately, these booties passed her test! I love the ribbon ties for these booties. It's so grown-up it's whimsical on a baby.

Charles is working on a purse for me, using some of the fabrics I posted about last week. I can't wait to see what it looks like! I think next week will be a week for purses, because I know I have a pattern cooking in my brain, and I think Anna does too. Also next week, look for our whimsical hats! Here's one I made for Olivia. It was so fun to make, because of the fat, chunky, cozy yarn that I used. It's just so snuggly. Olivia loves the flowers at the bottom because they're just the right size for her hands and mouth.

And here is my second pattern ever created! I'm calling this the Sister Suffragette cloche, because it looks like something out of the 1920's to me. I made this one for Anna's birthday- which is today! Be sure to leave a note and wish her a happy birthday!

Also of note this week:

1. We made it onto craftgawker.com ! What a dream come true. Hopefully you'll be seeing a lot of us on there eventually, but for now, we just can't believe they accepted our submission! Thank you, craftgawker!

2. We've been featured in a treasury of Virginian etsy shops. Here's the link:http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=110743

The more people who view and heart the items on the treasury, the more chances we have of making the front page on etsy.

We're coming out!

Our shop is finally ready for customers! We've been working like crazy to get our projects online for everyone to see, so I hope you'll give us a look. We'll be using the blog to write about our upcoming projects, our favorite supplies, our fellow shop owners, and craft fairs that we'll be attending. On the right, you'll see a link to our shop, and it'll be displaying our most recently added products. Below that, there's a spot to announce when we'll be at craft fairs and where they are, etc.
For today, we've posted about our pouncing adventures. We'll be posting every Saturday about one of our favorite undiscovered shops on Etsy, so stay tuned to see some really cool stuff!

Thank you so much for checking out the blog! We can use all the feedback you care to give us, so please leave a comment if you've got something to say! We're open to suggestions and new ideas, always.

This week will be the week of the baby bootie. We've got a few adorable patterns that we're itching to try, including crochet, embroidery, beading, buttons, and really lovable fabrics! Stay tuned to see the finished products!

this week's materials: