The Apple Pie of My Eye

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I had a great time just relaxing, baking, knitting, and spending time with my awesome parents.

Maybe the greatest thing about this Thanksgiving was the beginning of a new tradition that I think everyone should take part in. I decided to watch all of the Friends Thanksgiving episodes the day before turkey day, like you would watch Christmas movies or listen to Christmas music on Christmas Eve. Best decision ever. I mean who doesn't love the one with Chandler in the box or Rachel's meat-trifle?

So as I was cracking up with my favorite Friends, I worked on my contribution to the Thanksgiving meal, apple pie! I used Paula Deen's crunch top apple pie recipe, found here.

Here is the pie before the oven:

And here it is after! Now I know my basket weave isn't perfect...but hey, it's homemade. It was delicious, if I do say so myself! (Perfect with vanilla bean ice cream!)

I also spent my time off from classes working on orders and some cute new packaging-tags and notecards for the holidays.

What do you think? I also changed out the banner in the shop with a new one decked out with Christmas lights, courtesy of my awesome friend Keith.

Well, Thanksgiving was great, but now it's time to get serious, finish out this semester and rock the holiday rush!!

Etsy Dallas Jingle Bash!

This last Saturday I went to the Etsy Dallas Third Annual Jingle Bash. It was so much fun! It was wonderful to have the opportunity to meet and buy from so many talented local artists.

The event was held at the Palladium Ballroom. It was such a fun space (check out the disco ball below), but I think the Jingle Bash has become so popular that it has outgrown the venue. At one point I was so completely surrounded by shoppers that I couldn't turn around!

The best part of the experience was the goody bags given to the first 50 people in line! Getting there two hours early was definitely worth it for the discounts, freebies, samples, jewelry, and embroidery kit in that bag. It felt like Christmas morning when I got home and dumped out all of the goodies to get a closer look.

I snatched up this amazing hoop from Weather & Noise the moment I saw it.

...I also fell in love with this set of four notebooks from Lil Co Letterpress. Each book has office supplies and a cute little quotes on the cover, like "Keep it Together" with drawings of paper clips and push pins.

The whole experience at the Jingle Bash was very overwhelming. I have definitely thought about applying for a booth next year, but the chaos I saw made me question if I would even be capable to handling the pressure of an event of that size. Well, I have a year to prepare, learn, and see where my little Etsy shop takes me.

F-O-X

Kathleen Kelly: I thought all that Fox stuff was so charming. F-O-X.

Joe Fox: Well, I didn't *lie* about it.

Kathleen Kelly: "Joe"? "Just call me Joe"? As if you were one of those stupid 22-year old girls with no last name? "Hi, I'm Kimberly!" "Hi, I'm Janice!" Don't they know you're supposed to have a last name? It's like they're an entire generation of cocktail waitresses.

If you haven't seen You've Got Mail yet, you absolutely should. It is one of my favorite movies to watch in the fall. This quote from the movie inspired me to check out some cute F-O-X-es on Etsy.

Rusty the Fox by SunnyPlum

Ginger Foks, long by Celapiu

Rose and Fox Pincushion by Lifepieces

Fox Recycled Felt Applique Pillow by Alexandra Ferguson

Unique Winter Ornament - Mr. Fox by Pilli Pilli

Friday Etsy Feature - Moxiedoll

Friday Etsy Feature is back!! Hooray! And I could not have asked for a better shop and seller to feature this week!

Everyone, meet Mandy from Moxiedoll. 

She has been kind enough to extend a 15% discount to my readers until the end of the year! Just include "one sheepish girl" in the notes to seller box at checkout! 

Old School Owl 

How did you get started crafting? 

I've always been a crafty gal ever since childhood, but it was really Jenny Hart's Sublime Stitching patterns that got me "hooked" on embroidery! ;)

Festive Flowers

Why did you decide to sell your goods on Etsy?

I had just begun the craft fair scene here in Chicago when someone told me about Etsy in late 2005/early 2006. It seemed too good to be true - a web storefront that didn't require knowledge of html and was super affordable? How could I not at least try? Now I can't imagine what I'd do without it!

Vintage View-Master

What inspires your designs?

I'm inspired by a lot of different things, but simply put I embroider things that I find aesthetically pleasing and/or things that make me smile. I basically don't create anything that I wouldn't want to keep for myself.

My Heart Lives in Awesome Austin

What are your favorite materials?

While I do repeat color schemes frequently, I actually get really excited when I have a reason to use a wide variety of colored threads in one piece. I also get excited when I find interesting pieces of vintage fabric - my brain immediately begins coming up with designs.

Coffee Carafe

Tell us something about your non-crafting life!

 I have a lot of interests outside of my crafting and I often find it hard to stay focused on one project from start to finish without, at least, some break/distraction where I can work on something completely different. Basically I'm a big multi-tasker. For example, I recently took a photography class to help me take better still photos with my SLR. I also just recently opened a vintage Etsy store, Show Me Some Moxie. And I have always loved to bake. So now I can stage my baked goods on some of the vintage pieces I'm about to sell and take photos like this...

...Its a multi-tasker's dream come true!

Love Let Go

Is there anything else we should know about you and your lovely shop? 

 LOVE doing special orders. I can basically embroider pretty much any idea and I love to work with customers to create their ideal design. I hope to unveil some new, less conventional embroidery items soon, so stay tuned!

Mobile Manor

Thank you so much Mandy for sharing your shop! I hope everyone visits Moxiedoll today to see all of her other beautifully embroidered creations! 

The Holidays are Upon Us...

...And I'm so not ready! This is my first holiday season on Etsy and I feel so behind!

I haven't been able to blog or design new items for the shop recently because of the end-of-semester crunch happening now. I do have some ideas for wrist warmers and a couple headbands that I am going to try and put up in the shop this weekend, so I will keep you updated on that.

I also plan to decorate this blog with some holiday "trimmings" as soon as I make it through another round of tests and papers this week.

Also, I have some Christmas tags and packaging for all purchases from now until December 25th!

So yeah...you could say I am a little stressed out. Just a bit.

Are there any experienced sellers out there with some tips for me to make it through the holidays? Someone...anyone?

Well, I think a little Bing Crosby is exactly what I need to calm my nerves and help me remember the beauty of this time of year.

Cold as Ice

Here are some icy-blue finds from Etsy.

See the full treasury here. 

Hand-dyed cotton twine by Olivemanna

9 Felted Round Wool Beads by Smika

Winter Fox Ring by DIVINEsweetness

Lovebirdies Vase by Redhotpottery

Personalized Doily Painting by Ottoman