Vintage Canister Spree

One of my goals for 2013 is to make our home somewhere I really like to be in, and that means making it pretty!

Naturally, I went on an etsy spree.

from BtownPickers

from vintagegoodies

from serendipityinspired

A bit premature, perhaps.

The next step is to paint.

Eek!

Crochet heart clip! Adding some to the shop soon,

what do you think?

Bows are in the shop!

Grab a deal on the bows for buy 2 for $5 (normally priced at $3 each)

I wanted to also treat my readers with free shipping, so 

for a limited time use the free shipping code:

FREESHIPBOWS

The free shipping applies to anything in the shop and it's only this week!

Here are two of my faves.

click here to see

click here to see

Go ahead and travel to my shop to check it out!

So Many Bows

So Many Bows
Originally uploaded by Betty_Rockit

I got a ton of snap clippies in the mail yesterday so I started on my many many bows! They will be up in the shop once I've finished with photos and deciding on pricing and what not. :)

Makeovers

Going to do a blog and shop makeover because I'm BORED.

on a different note, I'm adding like a bajillion hair bows to my shop. Yayz.

2 new items in the shop!

$5

$6

Check it out!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

I'm excited to not work on Monday for MLK day,

and then have a two day week next week because after that we're going to 

MICHIGAN!

Okay it's not that exciting but I get to see my parents and my future in laws, so it'll be a happy reunion time.

And we've got tons of wedding stuff to get done.

WOW are weddings expensive. Trying to budget and it's proving slightly *understatement* stressful.

Here's one DIY I really want to do.

In order to save some money on decorations/flowers, I figured I could make some of these pretty things to toss on the tables. Mr. Rockit calls it "layering".

You can find the tutorial here. 

I'm really trying to save some money and make some in the meantime. One really awesome thing is that our friends who did our engagement photos have offered to shoot the wedding for free which is AMAZING. What awesome friends we have! I'm still trying to sell stuff, but fellow crafters and bloggers... Etsy is not easy. I need to sell something on there! Any tips? Advice? I think I need help!

New Items in the Shop

It's the Super Mario Bros blue mushroom that shrinks him!

$15

$3

(the second one is a prototype that I didn't like as much as the other pink one I put in there- hence the cheaper price!)

find my etsy shop on the right if you want to take a look. :)

Little Mushrooms!

Two new additions to my etsy shop- and I reworked some pricing on the existing items too!

Pricing is really difficult- if you price too low people will think it's tgtbt and if you price too high no one will buy!

I made a ton of these little guys, but I just put these two up- I'll put about 3-4 more up in different colors by the end of the week.

So take a look at my little friends :)

Typewriters

My dad had this great typewriter that I used to use before the dawn of computers. Remember that? Maybe? We had that perforated paper. Sometimes if you pressed more than one key it would get stuck and you'd have to gently pull down the letters. I remember being so fascinated by the whole concept of erase. That little white strip of ink that would magically erase your letters!

Anyway. These are dedicated to typewriters, and I wish my daddy had kept his.

This glorious color found here. 

This looked more like my Dad's. But smaller. 

I love this color and shape. It looks almost like a Pixar character. 

And I'm spent. It's hard looking for photos sometimes. Really. It is. 

Bow Tie Bow Tie!

I'm going to add these to my etsy shop, here's a preview with my favorite male model, Derronasaurus.

Book Review: The Handmade Marketplace

Reading this book by Kari Chapin right now and it's really great. It has a lot of great tips and tricks for the online marketing and handmade crafting industry. I definitely recommend this read if you are interested in making your hobby more than just a hobby- or even if you just need tips to make your blog/etsy shop get more hits. I need more hits. HIT ME.

I also have had this book for a bit, and it's another great read that's pretty self explanatory. Turn that creative hobby into a business!

My parents have owned their own business for awhile and I asked my mom for some advice and hers was to not do it. !!! It's a lot of hard work to build a business by yourself, but I think it's worth it. In the end. I mean I'm not off the ground yet even, but just making one sale was exciting. !!

Renegade

Renegade Craft fair was great this weekend. I met some awesome vendors, including a couple of chicas whose blogs I follow!

Elsie from A Beautiful Mess!

There's always this strange awkward creepiness when I meet people I've seen online. I'm not normally a shy person but when I admit to someone I have cyber stalked them and know way too much about them, it gets weird. I got shy and ran away after this picture. This is not my first real life meeting with a cyber person though.

I met Angela from Oiyi's crafts in Brooklyn at a fair once too. It wasn't weird at all because she had done some cyber stalking of her own and it was so funny. Like a blind date almost. I was like oh your little girl is adorable and she was like your cats are so cute. After that I knitted with her knitting group a couple of times too so it was pretty cool!

I met several other people whose work I'd seen online and it was great to put a name and face to their art. Some people like Elsie were gracious and sweet, and some- well - some were not! The craft world is a small world though, and everyone has seen everything it seems like. 

It also takes a level of comfort to be the blogger and to disclose bits of your life with total strangers. The nice thing is when these strangers stop being strangers and become your friends. It takes a lot of trust to put everything out there for the world to see.

Here are some great vendors that I met and liked! Not all of course, but those whose cards I took.

Tinted Mint: Really cute paper products/ ribbon tape! 

Verameat: Had the cutest affenpinscher at the booth, and some beautiful jewelry.

Drew Morrison: Amazing illustrations, I didn't buy anything but think maybe I will online.

SEIBEI: Awesome dinosaur tees and my favorite "I'm fat let's party"

Ach Ach Liebling: Really great and hand crafted jewelry. I bought a set of dagger earrings.

Handmade Whimsy: "fanciful trinkets and textiles"

aroostudio: Cute pet stuff! ALSO had the SWEETEST beagle pup who I fell in love with.

Raw Toast Design: Great illustrations and graphics. My friend got a great boston terrier print

Sweet Penelope: Grabbed this card for wedding invites!

The affenpinscher. If you don't know what an affenpinscher is. You should.

Fort Mason Festival Pavilion

Inside!

FIRST SALE!!

I made my first sale on Etsy!! YEAHHHHHHHHHH

I sold this!

Yeeehaawwwww

Etsy Finds

Jump to the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Post here or scroll down. <3

So a couple things. First, I was thinking about this giveaway and how once upon a time in like 2nd or 3rd grade- I participated in a giveaway sort of homemade swap for my class in school. I made a huge chocolate cake with my mom with sprinkles and was really proud of it. I received a piece of construction paper with black acrylic paint smeared all over it. And I cried. I remember thinking how horrible that child was- to not even try. And even now- I wish I could remember who gave that to me so I could defriend them on facebook! Just joking, but seriously- that was traumatic.

Also, Here's some stuff from Etsy.

Etsy Buy Handmade bettyrockit

Perusing through etsy- wanted to see if this worked!!! These aren't my items- these are items I've "hearted" for our new apartment :) But I'm trying to get the hang of etsy before I open up shop! Stay tuned!