for the new year

Etsy Treasury!

A Crafty Adventure

So, last summer for my birthday I got my very first laptop computer...a very sweet 15.4 inch Sony Vaio. Nothing spectacular, but as a gift it's definitely up there on the charts.
So anyway, the point. I started shopping around for laptop sleeves. Not a carrier, but just a nice little sleeve to keep it nice and cushioned while it's hanging around my apartment. So after not finding anything I liked anywhere on Etsy or anywhere else that didn't cost a ton...I decided I could make my very own!

So, A Fabric Queen, one of my very awesome team mates on Etsy runs a fabric supply shop, and I decided to see what i could find in there...and oh my goodness...she had so many beautiful colors and patterns!!!

This is what I ended up choosing
http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=12493771

The listing shows each of the 4 prints I chose along the side, and when my package arrived, she had added a ton of extras, several more prints that matched...so now I have this whole pile of fabric to work with!!! So, I wanted to chart my progress on this project by blogging as I go along, taking pictures and such, and allow you all to laugh at my inability to sew.

I don't have photos yet, but I've gotten started.

The idea is to deconstruct a yoga messenger bag made of a static friendly material for an inner lining, and then line the outside of the bag in the awesomely colored fabrics linked above.

I did the deconstruction last week, breaking this yoga bag apart to use the materials for the lining. I even salvaged the zippers, an outside one to use for the bag itself and a small inside pouch zipper that I'll probably use to make a crocheted purse out of for my shop.

It was really neat taking this bag apart, cutting out seams to get the most out of the fabric, getting to break down something that was machine produced ( I imagine the feeling similar to that of unraveling a sweater to recycle the yarn, something I haven't gotten to do yet). It was exciting to hold the material in my hands and know what it was going to (hopefully) become.

After getting all the pieces out, I've just started sewing a single seam, so my work is only just beginning. It's still very exciting to have the project started, and I hope to get it finished in the next few months. As sewing isn't something I do much, I'll only be working on it in small windows, in between my real world job and crocheting for my Etsy shop. Plus, I get bored quick. :)

But stay tuned for updates, and pictures very soon!

Kitten loves broccoli

Kitten LOVES Broccoli @ Yahoo! Video

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi all!

My big sales special starts tomorrow on Black Friday,and since I'm not really offering any great specials for Thanksgiving I decided to give away a few photos.

Here's what you do to be entered to win a 5x7 photo of your choice from my shop (limited to what I have on hand).

• Start following me on my blog. To follow this blog, just click the 'Follow this Blog' link in the box on the left.
• Follow me on Twitter I am JmiLovesOwls

Please convo me on Etsy (suenosdejmi) or reply to this post and let me know that you have followed me somewhere so I can check.

I will give away 1 photo for every 5 people who add me on Twitter or Blogger. The selected people will be allowed to pick from the photos I have pre-printed on hand. Yay!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Friday Sales Spectacular!

This is my sales annoucement for my special during the Etsy Holiday EtsyFest sale! Please visit the Holiday Etsy Fest blog to browse some of the great shops offering specials during this sale! Scroll down and click on the calendar dates below to be taken to different sections of my shop! Please specify if you would like holiday gift packaging in Notes to Seller or via convo. Also, I will be giving away door prizes! More details coming soon!

November 2008
Suenosdejmi's Holiday EtsyFest Sale
Free US Shipping on orders over $25 (after discounts)
Photos Buy One Get One Free & Free Shipping Worldwide!
Sun	Mon	Thu	Fri	Sat
		27	28	29
		Happy Thanksgiving!	Scarves 50% off! Photos BOGO!	25% off storewide (excludes photos) Photos BOGO!
30	1
25% off storewide (excludes photos) Photos BOGO!	Scarves 50% off! Photos BOGO!

Forget Cat in the Hat...It's Cat in the Box!

Cat Stuck in a Box @ Yahoo! Video

Scarf it up!

Thinking Black...

I'm trying to get my mind wrapped around being Holiday ready, which I so know I'm not. At first, I wanted to make a bunch of ornaments because I thought they might be something small that might sell well and be cheaper and small...but once I did a few I was pretty much done with the idea (I have the shortest attention span possibly ever), even though I do love this one :)

So, I've been trying to think smaller inventory items, but why am I bothering so much? I mean, should I drive myself crazy making smaller things that I don't completely want to make/love or should I just dedicate myself to my scarves that I do love and leave it all to the buyers?

Anyway, the actual reason for this post was to bring up Black Friday, the first real jump off on the holiday season. Shopping has been slow everywhere, in the retail world where I work and on Etsy too, so I really think Black Friday will show that people are waiting for the really good deals. (keep your fingers crossed!)

I signed up to be a part of this sale, called Holiday EtsyFest or Artisans for the Holidays (personally I like the second one better!) which is going to be a substantial group of Etsy sellers offering specials in their shops from Black Friday through Cyber Monday (Black Friday being the day after Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday being the Monday after the sales weekend)

Sneak peek: All scarves 50% off! All photos buy one get one free, all weekend!

I will reserve items now for buying during this weekend, just contact me. :) Now then, I'm off to crochet a bunch! Check out a selection of my scarves in the slideshow above, and Happy Holidays!!!

President Who?

And today is the greatest day ever!

W Returns to SNL!!!

LOST!!!!!!!!!!!

mas videos...

Tina Fey talks with David Letterman about her Sarah Palin character




Footage of the McCain & Obama Speeches from the Alfred E Smith Memorial Dinner

Give Me Wings To Fly

Thinking Pink???

The Etsy Owls have decided to have a Breast Cancer Awareness promotion during the month of October. We're making pink items and are going to list them in the team shop and donate 100% of the proceeds to the Susan G Komen for the Cure Foundation.

This is a cause that is quite personal to a lot of us, myself included, so I'm really glad that we're doing this.

The scarf I chose to make was designed by Wendy of Wendy Does Crochet. She named it the Romantic Evening Scarf and it's this fairly simple to create yet incredibly elegant design.

I used a yarn that's a lot bigger than what she used, so I was a bit worried about how my scarf would turn out, but I love it! I want to thank Wendy for letting me use it for this, and I highly recommend that you check out her patterns. You can find her on on Etsy and on Ravelry too.

Check back soon to find this scarf and lots of other great pink Owls items on sale! Feel free to post if you are interested in buying this scarf. It's not on sale yet, but it will be soon and I can list it reserved for you when it goes up. It will be $20 with free US shipping.

Have you seen Fall yet?

If you don't know this about me already, I live in a little town in East Tennessee. One of the only things really in the town is the college I recently graduated from , a small, private, baptist, liberal arts college. I decided today, like I said in my last post, to take a walk to the post office.

Last week's weather was so amazing, really cool and fall weather, so perfect that we kept our windows open and the air off for 3 days straight!! (and my boyfriend can't stand heat, so this means the weather was very cool indeed!) Today it was like 80 degrees and incredibly sunny, it sort of made me miss last week! So, I decided on my walk today to seek out signs that fall was indeed here. This slideshow highlights some of what I found on my way.

Goodbye dear friend...

I went on a walk today (a trip to the post office) and came across something that makes me very sad. :(

This was the same walk I took to go to class (I only live like a block away from school) and I came to be attached to a tree on the very edge of campus. Today while taking my usual shortcut I noticed it isn't there anymore, and instead there's this:

I'm so sad. :( It really was a beautiful tree. If you click on the title of this blog entry, it'll take you to my facebook photo album, where I took a whole semester of pictures of this tree. I know there are more photos of it floating around out there, and I'm going to hunt them down and add them to the album. I'm really upset about this, but I'm probably the only one who noticed.

Watch This, World!

Oh, Tina....

People, Places, and Things...

Do you ever associate music with things that are going on in your life? I hope almost everyone does, I definitely do. I was listening to an old mixed CD today that had a few songs on it that I used to listen to passionately because I related them to life. I started thinking, how many songs like that are there?

Turns out there's a whole bunch of them, and I'm sure there are more before the ones I can remember. So I'm sharing the ones I do remember: a few that remind me of high school, and from when I spent lots of time with people I never get to see anymore and about, of course, several boys who broke my heart over the years, and so on. :)

Five points for the first person to figure out which two songs are from the soundtrack for my senior play.

*Disclaimer*

I'm obsessive compulsive, so these songs are in order as they were important in my life, starting about 8 years ago and ending about 4 years ago, give or take a few years. Some of these songs are old. Some are quite old. Just in case you don't already know this about me, some of these songs are also pretty screwed up. If you blush easily, some songs in this list might make you do so.

Enjoy.