Tag: etsy shop

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14 days left and two full weekends!

It is Friday and I have 14 days left and two full weekends. I am spending one day with my family, one day at Church and taking a date night as well. I was getting worried about getting everything done until I completed my inventory. I do have my back up help lined up for the show so that is a great thing.

I still have tons to do and today my focus is on boot cuffs and getting supplies for packaging. The image of what we buy is so much wrapped up in the packaging and styling. Things that look average somehow change their image with labels, tags and packaging. How can you tell the difference between a scarf, boot cuff, and infinity scarf when they are all set out on a table? This is what I am trying to solve.

14 days left and two full weekends!These are a couple of pairs of boot cuffs in process.

Sitting here in my living room and looking at the trees outside my windows. There are about 20 trees out there but what do I see the red, yellow and orange trees. That is what I want for my products a chance to stand out from the crowd. Tags and labels help but packaging can also make a huge difference. I have been to craft shows where all the knit stuff blends in together. It is hard to figure out what each piece is. Packaging and labelling is the way for me to solve that issue. It will also keep everything from look messy.

Talk to you later,

Karen

You can find my items on Etsy here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateDogStudio

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolatesBabyShop

on Amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/handmade/chocolate-dog-studio

and at The Affair of the Heart in Tulsa on November 20-22

I am also found on Instagram  here https://instagram.com/chocodogstudio/

but right now you can find me at home churning out lovely items for you and your family!

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The Craft Show Countdown

The To Do list for November is big, huge, and overwhelming as I am in the middle of the craft show countdown. I have very few creating days left before the big show and I am writing things on my list as fast as I can and I can and trying to mark them off just as quickly. I can’t keep up with this list too. It is just happening too fast. Throw in homeschooling, home maker duties, parenting and spending time with Dale, the kids and my Mom and life is WAY to busy. I wouldn’t have it any other way and I am sleeping all night long (read that as worn completely out!)

The Craft Show Countdown

Here is the studio a week or so ago. I actually have cleaned it up last week and it looks pretty similar to this again. As soon as items are finished and tagged it moves upstairs. I do have about 40 projects in different states of completion that I need to just finish up.

The Craft Show Countdown

I am working on scrap ornaments and quilted bibs in the photo above and it tends to get really messy when I am working with little bits of fabric.

You can tell that I am sewing and working diligently. The list was at this point at 2 pm yesterday when I stopped to run to Lowe’s for home repair items. I got back to it later and was able to mark a few more things off my list.

The Craft Show Countdown

 

Yarntopia is also getting much slimmer these days. So, I can tell that I am making progress on using my supplies. I do wonder if it is actually smaller or does it just look that way since some of the yarn is in different project bags.

It is 16 days to the craft show and I am in officially freak out mode. I would also call it a creative frenzy, I think hubs would call it chaos. Today I paint the displays to make sure that everything looks fresh and clean!

The Craft Show Countdown

I’m almost finished but the paint is still wet and it looks like it might rain. It seems I take three steps forward and then two steps back.

Everyday has several jobs and life keeps happening so for today I am going to work on doing the important not the urgent. Taking time out for family and life is so much more important than prepping for a craft show. I keep reminding myself… over and over… again… Family comes first, family comes first, family comes first.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

 

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What Did I get done in October

 

Last month I listed everything I got done day by day for the Christmas selling season and in preparation for the craft show. It helped me keep track of how I was doing and how much I had left. I always feel that I am not doing enough. This will be like a food diary; a true picture of how much I was getting done to prepare. I still have my to do list for the month.

  1. Make Menu and Grocery list
  2. sew buttons on cup cozies 
  3. Stiffen  all crochet ornaments
  4. cut out Tardis baby bibs
  5. cut out flannel baby bibs
  6. sew flannel baby bibs
  7. sew 37 cup cozies now cut out 
  8. Sew Tardis baby bibs
  9. add ribbons to all ornaments
  10. Crochet 4  men’s hats
  11. Crochet 2 Women’s rose hats
  12. Crochet 5 Granny Stripe Scarves
  13. Crochet 5 Granny Square Scarves
  14. Crochet stars
  15. Crochet hearts
  16. Sew 10 superhero capes
  17. Sew 10 aprons
  18. Cut out 8  aprons
  19. Organize my side of the maker space
  20. Sew 6 flannel baby blankets for crochet trim
  21. Sew pillow cases for crochet trim
  22. sew 3 craft show aprons
  23. Sew 20 burp cloths   I’ve currently sewn 16
  24. finish owl hats that need eyes, wings and beaks
  25. Sew tags on all the scarves and hats
  26. Anything else I can think of!

Oct 1.  Thursday

  • Sewed, topstitched and buttoned 57 cup cozies
  • Sewed eyes on Minion 6 minion hats, and 1 ninja turtle hat
  • Did the hand work on 7 heart ornaments

Oct. 2.  Friday

  • 20 minutes posting on Hootsuite

October 3 Saturday

  • Posted on Hootsuite

October 4 Sunday

  • took the day off and made cake!
  • listed 3 items on Handmade@Amazon

October 5 Monday

  • Listed 24 items on Handmade @Amazon
  • sewed patchwork bibs yellow 6 they are ready for batting and backing!
  • shipped order
  • dropped off hat…

Tuesday

  • sewed 10 patchwork bibs  (lots of work but they are really cute.)

Wed.

  • Crocheted 2 hats 1 teal and 1 copper

Thursday

  • Cut threads and finished quilting on patchwork baby bibs
  • Sold two adult blankets and 1 baby blanket

Friday

  • listed 10 baby blankets on Amazon/handmade

Saturday! Tons done today.

  • Figured out the craft show display
  • started painting some of the craft show display pieces
  • watched more of the Influence/Impact summit.
  • we have watched about 10 of the interviews so far and the knowledge we have gleaned is incredible. I love the fact that it is free!

Sunday

  • Cut and pin Burp clothes
  • watch Influence and Impact Symposium
  • Crochet head band
  • work on crochet triangle scarf/shawl

Monday October 12 Columbus Day

  • Iron and sew burp cloths
  • I put the tags on and cut the threads
  • Finished three blanket scarves
  • watched Dave Ramsey on Influence and Impact
  • Started crocheting a hat
  • wove in the ends on the teal hat

And THEN the week happened….

Saturday and Sunday

  • worked on displays and floor plan for the craft fair.
  • Spent time with family and enjoyed the weekend.
  • Date night on Friday night and went to the Vintage Market Fair, twice! Once on Friday and once on Saturday.
  • I had breakfast with friends, lunch with my Daughter in law and Dinner with Dale. When I told him I had eaten every meal out. He said not to get used to it,  but we had a great date night.

It is now Monday again, the 19 of October!  :0)

  • 3 headbands finished
  • 1 scarfy shawl or shawly scarf
  • 1 sweater/poncho in reds/pinks/brown
  • crocheted/finished three hats, black/white, red/white, black/white, rust,
  • finished one owl hat

Tuesday October 20

  • Crocheted three hats
  • sewed tags on 30+ hats
  • took inventory of hats completed and tagged 67 hats total

Wednesday

  • wrote blog post
  • working on crochet hats
  • posted on hoot suite

Thursday October

  • Tagged and inventoried hats
  • put belly bands on cup cozies
  • sewed 10+ coffee press cozies
  • sewed hot pads

What Did I get done in OctoberThe guinea hens stopped by our house this morning.

Friday

Dale picked up d rings for me… they were the wrong size

Saturday October 24

  • cut out 10+ aprons and linings
  • Sewed 2 aprons
  • sewed 4 pot holders
  • cut apron straps
  • sewed buttons on 8 coffee press cozies

Sunday October 25

  • Did absolutely nothing for the business.
  • Switched all the kids beds around in Preparation for Thanksgiving.
  • Cleaned and vacuum the guest room and closet.

Monday October 26

We are getting close to the end of this month. I am doing a bad job of documenting my work. I am getting loads of sewing and business things done.

  • I got Square up and running again on my phone. It allows me to accept credit cards
  • cut out linings for aprons
  • cut out baby bibs
  • sewed 14 baby bibs
  • Set up Hootsuite for the week
  • sewed buttons on 3 coffee press cozies
  • received the order for d rings…. they were the wrong size
  • ordered more d rings online
  • crocheted one baby bow tie

Tuesday

  • top stitched 14 baby bibs
  • cut out baby bibs
  • sewed bow tie baby bibs
  • added snaps to baby bibs
  • Total number of bibs finished today (
  • cut out capes (
  • crocheted man’s hat

What Did I get done in October

Wednesday

  • sew capes
  • sew aprons
  • cut out superhero capes

Thursday

  • Finished 12 capes with tags
  • Sew ties on aprons
  • Take a huge long nap followed by going to bed early and sleeping all night!

Friday the 30th of October

  • sew aprons
  • iron aprons
  • Compassion village
  • family game night with homemade pizza! The pizza was great and we started a new game. It was hugely funny or we were being silly.

What Did I get done in October

October 31st

Here we are right at the end of the month. I did get more done than I thought I did. I am starting a new list for November and I will get that posted soon.

Talk to you  later,

Karen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Being Boss

  • Sometimes being self motivated and your own boss is an issue. This week I am doing a good job of being boss. I feel the craft show looming down on me. I am so worried that I won’t have enough stock that I feel like I am working overtime. Taking time off to play or be social is truly hard for me, so I tend to work all the time. Then I face burn out.

If I look at my work as play then my attitude is much better. So, this week while playing. I finished up these colorful and fun hats. I love them.

Being Boss

I sent my daughter in to yarntopolis (my yarn storage) to pick another color for the same style hat and she picked light blue. They are so much fun to crochet. The colors change all of the time and that makes it quick work. I have also been busy hand sewing the  tags on a bunch of the crocheted items.

Today, I am cleaning in the makerspace and getting the next round of sewing organized. I am waiting on some supplies but I will sew pot holders and coffee press cozies today. I also need to do cut capes out so I can get them sewn. All this planning is overwhelming but I am using my Kanban board as a reminder of what needs to be done, what is in process and what remains.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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The Sampler Blanket

I made time to block the sampler blanket this week. If you are following me on Instagram you will notice that I have also started putting a border around each square.  Here are some befores and afters of the blocking process. If you have never steam blocked acrylic yarns you really should try it. It does a great job of heat setting nice straight edges and giving the granny squares their final shape.

The sample blanket

 

They sure look all wadded and out of shape. I started blocking them on my ironing board a few at a time.

The sampler blanketThey started looking so much better. I don’t always block my granny squares but these desperately needed it. The sampler blanketI used a ton of pins and my steam iron. I was really careful not to touch the iron to the yarns as it would melt. the squares all turned out to be about five different sizes when I was finished blocking them. Which was a nice surprise. The sampler blanketThis was going to be one creamy sampler blanket with no other colors but I just couldn’t leave it alone. Here is one with the borders that I am putting on each square. It will be much easier if I end up with squares that are all about the same size.The Sampler Blanket

 

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

 

 

 

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July’s to do list

I am already writing July’s to do list. Yay, it is the first week of July and I am on a roll, actually I am on the couch resting my knee as it is not happy with me today.

I have hit a wall on being creative these days. I am tired and grumpy a lot of the time. I hate taking pain meds as they tend to drug me up. I have been up since early today and it has taken quite a bit of energy. I have spent  huge amounts of time on Pinterest yesterday and today but I am not inspired to do much. So this to do list may be shorter than normal.

Here is what I have been working on and what I hope to finish this month.

My organization to do list. We have accomplished more than is shown on this photo. It is a much shorter list now.

July's to do list

 

My sampler blanket

July's to do list

 

I hope to finish about twelve to 20 crochet hats. I want some to look like these but I also have some new designs running around in my mind.

I am also wanting to finish my quilt before I have surgery.  It is at this stage right now. July's to do list

I have quite a bit of quilting left but if I work hard on it a couple of mornings I might get it finished. I have several patterns that I want to write. There is this granny square blanket pattern that I want to write. That is a ton of work for the next two weeks in July. We are still in the middle of changing around our den to a maker space.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

 

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Spring Break Progress!

Last week was Spring Break for our house and home school. While the college kids were home the first week in March, we did not take off school as we did last week. I am sure that you noticed that I have been missing the past two weeks. I did write blog posts but we were busy doing fun things. I did get so much sewing done last week and it was great. I have a few photos of new items that were on the To Do list a long time. It was good to get them finished as they are also on the Use My Stash Challenge items. They were also on my To Do List, so I am quite happy about last weeks progress!

I finished these baby swaddling blankets. They are reversible with white flannel on one side and the chevron on the other.

Spring Break Progress Spring Break ProgressI also finished a fox blanket that was sitting around waiting to be stitched. So it counts in the total. I completed two of the red blankets, one blue and and the one fox blanket. So these would be numbers 18, 19, 20 and 21

I also sewed up these cute baby burp cloths.

Spring Break Progress Spring Break Progress

 

I completed 8 baby burp cloths total; 2 in the red chevron,  4 truck burp cloths with chenille on the backing, and 2 truck burp cloths with the diaper backing. They sure look cute. These are numbers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28.

I also completed several capes that I bought fabric for two years ago. They are definitely sewn out of my stash fabrics. The capes are reversible.  There are several different color combinations. My boys would have loved them when they were little. I finished about 4 of them total. I have several more that just need the finishing touches. These are numbers, 29, 30, 31, 32!

Spring Break Progress

The baby items will eventually find their way to ChocolatesBabyShop.etsy.com and the capes are for an event later this summer.

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

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2 Crochet Baby Blankets

I seem to be on a roll these days crocheting baby blankets. I started this blue and white one before Christmas and then moved on to this grey one. They are both beautiful but I have to admit that I prefer the blue and white one. I have no idea why, well, it might be because I was using a new pattern with the grey one and had to frog it back 9 rows a couple of times.

2 Crochet Baby Blankets 2 Crochet Baby Blankets 2 Crochet Baby Blankets 2 Crochet Baby Blankets

I do like the almost houndstooth print of the this grey blanket. I also like that it could work with either a boy baby or a girl baby. This makes it a perfect gift for someone that doesn’t know which gender they are having.  They are both crocheted out of soft acrylic yarn and will wash well. You will be able to find them at ChocolatesBabyShop on Friday of this week!

These are also crocheted out of my stash and will make items 16 and 17 for the Use Your Stash Challenge. So I did make progress last week and things are marching on with the challenge. I also spent some time carefully cutting out some quilt projects. I was being careful of my back so I didn’t get much sewing done but I am working on other projects.

I started a new baby blanket yesterday and I have made good progress. I hope to get it finished this week as well. It is in shades of purple. If you are following me on Instagram you have seen that it looks like this.

2 Crochet Baby Blankets

The colors are a bit off as I took this photo with my cell phone after dark. Which really changes how the colors look.

Talk to you later,

Karen

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Baby Giraffe

I spent some time last week trying to figure out what I could crochet. I had hurt my back and I felt burned out crocheting baby blankets. I have recently finished two blankets and I was wanting to do something completely different. I ran across a really cute pattern on Pinterest. It seemed to hit the right chord and off I ran. I actually was able to use up some bits and pieces of yarn and I love the end result. These two cuties do fit with the Use Your Stash Challenge as I used up some small balls of stash yarn.

Baby Giraffe

I showed you the arms and legs on Instagram and then quickly added the bodies.

Baby Giraffe

Baby Giraffe

Here they are together as they are already best buddies. The colors in the lower photo are a bit darker than they should be.

Baby Giraffe

Perfect for babies or big sisters and brothers. The faces are embroidered on with yarn and the bodies are firmly sewn on. They sure are cute and were fun to make. You can make your own if you crochet. I will be adding these to ChocolatesBabyShop on Friday. The pattern is available on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crochet-giraffe-2 

So this would be 14 and 15 on my Use Your Stash Challenge! I love these and I will make some more Amigurumi. They are easier than I thought they would be.

The snow is continuing to fall today. It started looking like this at about 9 am this morning.

Baby Giraffe (I know that this isn’t much snow if you are further North than we are but it happens infrequently enough that it is a pretty big weather event for us!) I live in Colorado for several years when I was a child, so I know this isn’t much snow!

Talk to you later,

Karen

 

 

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The New To Do List

This to do list has so much marked off as I have been super productive this week. It has been good to finish up or get so much done on several of my projects. I am pretty happy about following my to do list. I started work on several super hero capes that I am working on for a show this summer. It is on the To do list as it will use up a ton of satin that I bought two or three years ago.

The New To Do List

I also finished these little Valentine envelopes that I crocheted for a friend. She has a booth at a craft/antique mall. So, it was a whole sale order for her booth. These are a perfect size for gift cards.

The New To Do ListI finished up this shawl/scarf. The colors are wonderful. I am pleased that it is finished as it only lacked about three rows and the red border.

The New To Do List

I have added 8 inches to this blanket and will probably finish it up later this week.

The New To Do List

I am pleased that it is working up so quickly.

I still need to work on these items as I haven’t gotten to them yet.

  1. Finish the quilt (there is probably only 2-3 more hours of work.)
  2. Sew 3 coffee press cozies
  3. Sew 20 coffee cup sleeves
  4. sew 3 bibs (already cut just need to be sewn)
  5. sew up 4 flannel blankets (already cut just need to be sewn)
  6. sew 10 more paper pieced quilt squares

If I break this list down into easy to accomplish steps. I would rewrite the list like this.

  1.  Iron flannel blankets and pin
  2. Iron satin
  3. Iron quilt cottons
  4. arrange sewing by color thread
  5. sew items by thread color: blue, white, red, black and pink thread
  6. cut out capes
  7. cut out quilt cottons
  8. Press all seams and completed projects for photography

I hope all of this helps. I tend to be easily discouraged by the mountain of work standing in front of me. I am still wishing for some snow. It would be nice to be snowed in for a day or two.

talk to you later,

Karen

You can visit my shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateDogStudio