Sneak Peak into Coming Etsy Listings

I finished this little guy last night and couldn't resist taking his picture! Everyone I showed it to kept trying to get me to list him right away, at 2 am! I've decided to save him for my upcoming listing spree, probably starting around the 1st, but I thought I'd go ahead and unveil him to his adoring public. Look for him in my Etsy shop starting next week.

Gearing up for something awesome...

So, I've been pretty busy trying to create a bunch of different items so I can have a bit of a listing spree, a binge if you will. :) The last listing spree I really had was in February, and I posted about it on the Etsy OWLs blog and also on here. In the end, I ended up making it 9 days, listing 8 new items and one item renew. It was pretty exciting!

Well, this time, I'm gearing up for it several weeks in advance. I hope to have 7 or 8 new items ready to go by the first of the month, and then start listing, one, maybe two a day. It's going pretty well so far, I've completed two items, and almost have a third one finished. I also have a small pile of items, maybe 4, that need finishing touches, a scarf that needs felting, one that needs buttons sewn on, etc. I'm hoping to do all of that really quickly over the next few days, so I can be ready to go!

I'm really trying to hammer into a regular blogging routine, but I haven't gotten there quite yet. April's really going to help with that, as it's Autism Awareness Month, and since autism is something close and personal to my life, I'm going to be blogging about it a lot during April. The Owls are making items up to put in our team shop with all the profits going to Autism Speaks, and I'm really excited to be taking part in that coming up starting in about a week or so. I also belong to Etsy for Autism and I have a lot of plans to blog about various shops in this team during April too. So, hopefully this will help me get more into blogging! Stay tuned!

Kokeshi Madness!

So, I've recently fallen in love with Kokeshi dolls! I just blogged about them on the the Owls Blog and made this gorgeous little kokeshi themed collage with Picasa

I got here because of Beladonna who makes the most precious little kokeshi dolls. Takara (pictured above top left) is made by her and is my absolute favorite. She's having this awesome giveaway where you can win one of her kokeshi dolls for free on her blog and it's so easy to enter, you have to go do it! I'm so inspired by the absolute cuteness of these dolls that I'm attempting to crochet them. :) It's going to be exciting, for real!

Here's links to all the shops featured:

http://beladonna.etsy.com http://retroattack.etsy.com/ http://myverybutton.etsy.com/
http://stephaniefizer.etsy.com/ http://isabellsumbrella.etsy.com/ http://purpledaisies.etsy.com/
http://bamboobaby.etsy.com/ http://temple7e.etsy.com/

Jamie Goes Spanglish!!

In addition to keeping my hands full managing the Etsy Owls I'm also a member of a few other teams. One of them, Etsy Spanglish published an article I wrote on their blog! If you read my blog regularly, you've probably already read my post on cooking Tortilla Espanola. I submited it to the Spanglish blog because I thought i was totally appropriate, and they've put it on the blog. Please go check it out there and comment! Thanks!

Do you Google? iGoogle!

So, I just fell in love with iGoogle Seriously.

I had never really checked it out before, but it's really quite cool! My mom clued me into it, she's got hers set up so she can chat from it and told me about it today. I started checking it out, and have it set up so it runs Twitter, has news feeds, I can write blog posts, and use Gmail chatting & email all out of the same screen! I even added a Wikipedia box! The Internets will never be the same again.

Pick Your Favorite and Win a FREE PHOTO!!

Erin of CagedBirdSings and I opened up a new shop together back in December. Combining parts of our shop names, we are DreamBirdPhotos

We decided to combine shops because we both have had study abroad experiences and thought our photos from these experiences would fit well together. In addition to photography, we also have photo magnets, postcards, notecards, and pendants.

In an effort to have Etsy get to know us, we're having a giveaway in March for a free 5x7 photo! To enter, all you have to do is visit our shop at DreamBirdPhotos, pick your favorite photo in the shop, come back to this post, post a link to the photo and tell us why you like it!

(Also, feel free to heart the shop and/or your favorite photo, but this is not required)

If you are an Etsy member, please post a link to your Etsy shop in the post as well. If you're not an Etsy member, please post an email address where you can be contacted in case you are drawn to be winner.

The contest will end at 12:01 am Eastern time Monday the 23rd and winners will be notified by Tuesday the 24th. One photo will be given away for every 25 people who enter the contest. (i.e. if 100 people enter, we will give away 4 5x7 photos!)

The winners will select a photo of their choice from available prints in the Spain section. Some of the Spain photos are still in my main shop and any photos listed there can also be selected. Options will be limited to photos that are currently in stock (as of now all photos are in stock).

If you have any questions, please convo suenosdejmi on Etsy or post a comment on this post.

Picasa Rocks!

Check out what I did!

 

A mostly cute video and an Owls challenge!

First, watch this clip from Countdown with Keith Olbermann (it's not political, honest!). The last part is what I wanted to share but I can't find it by itself. Poor sweet puppy!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Next, the Etsy Owls Street Team has launched their St Patricks Day challenge! Please visit our blog and vote for your favorite!

Someone stole my laundry?!?!

This is always a fear of mine. It's never happened to me, but recently it happened to a friend of mine How sad indeed. Who steals laundry???

My March-Year's Resolution

Who says it's too late to be setting 2009 goals? Our street team gives members the option to set monthly goals for their Etsy shops, and when evaluating what I want for my Etsy stores I realized there are a few non-Etsy things I'd like to accomplish. They are loftier goals than I can reach in March, but they are possible.

1. For March, get my 'corner' organized (think craft room/writing & reading cubby), but condensed, because my apt is itty bitty) This was a failed February goal and I will see it carried out in March.
2. Upon completion of goal # 1, use the above space to start writing more!
3. learn Microsoft Excel, not just the basics, but really learn it. This is a resume booster and everyone should know it inside and out.
4. attempt to learn to knit again. I tried this once over a period of time but failed and eventually gave up. My hands are confused by two needles :)

What are your goals? How are those New Years Resolutions going?