After almost a month, and after many convos and eMails from some fantastic friends and customers, I'm happy to announce that I've opened up shop again. In the famous words of that fine cigar-smoking Cuban Ricky Ricardo, I'm thrilled to say "Lucy, I'm home!"
I've been on somewhat of a journey in recent weeks. My 14 month old son Joey has been extra attached to me at night, which is my only time to sew, and therefore I haven't had much time for sewing. So while Joey is asleep on my lap, I've spent some extra time online. Together Joey and I have joined some new teams lately, and I've met some wonderful people along the way. EtsyMoms, EtsyBloggers, ETSYFest (Florida Etsy Street Team), and Loco for Gocco. The last two are still very new - just in their early stages and I've just this weekend registered blog URLs, gMail accounts and ringsurf code for a couple of the teams. It's so exciting! I'm so thrilled to be a part of these new teams. I would've totally stalked the Loco for Gocco team if I didn't join! Those guys completely rock, their art and technique is totally inspiring, and I'm just so psyched to be a part of the team.
As for everyone that I've met here on my blog and in the forums and Etsy Street Teams - I want to say thanks guys for your words of encouragement, your sweet compliments, your words of wisdom, your virtual friendship, and your comments here on my blog. Also thanks for your orders of course - if you've purchased something from my shop.
And...if you haven't yet purchased anything from my shop...then hop on over! If you shop within the next 2 days, I'll give you a 20% discount on your entire purchase - just say "Lucy, I'm home!" in the notes to seller box you'll see upon checkout. This is my 2 day "Lucy I'm home" sale, just for my readers. :D Why? Because you and me, as we're pushing and driving this handmade revolution, and talking about it via comments and forums and convos and eMails, and writing about all this handmade goodness in our blogs - I want to shout you out and offer a SALE in your honor. The sale starts in 10 minutes, and will only go on for Monday and Tuesday only. It's to say thanks, and I totally appreciate all of you stopping by my blog.
I visit numerous blogs daily, but haven't had much time this past week. Here are just a few of the blogs I look forward to visiting again soon: The talented and refreshing Allyson Hill blog, the creatively written Beebee Mod blog, and the serenely modern Quilt Baby blog.
Sometimes I visit without saying hi, for various reasons such as I wanted to look at their fabulous photos and get inspired without speaking, or because I was too busy to say anything that didn't sound rushed, or maybe I was NAK (nursing at keyboard) or because I was up so many nights in a row with only a few hours sleep that I knew whatever I would say would in no way, shape, or form be in the least bit coherent. :P
And I'm so glad all of you showed up here on my wee little blog and I look forward to the next time I visit your blogs again. I also look forward to visiting the blogs of my new friends who have commented here in recent days. So fair warning...lookout for me...beep beep! I'll be leaving comments and saying all sorts of silly stuff on your blog sometime real soon.
I've had so much to say lately, but no time to hang out here - so I've been jotting stuff down on sticky notes, and now I've got a pile of sticky notes which is slowly becoming this post. Whenever I have two hands free, and it's not family time, I use that time to sew my orders. When I have one hand free and am feeding my baby Joey, I can only use one hand to respond to my business eMails and Etsy convos, and do some techy stuff like write code or also upload my flickr photos.
What I would totally love is something to keep me more organized - something that would allow me to blog more - but do less - something that would remove one of these steps to my blogging - which is me jotting stuff down on paper - and then later typing it myself. Something that would do all of that. (OK, that sounded like I needed a secretary.) What I really need is a software that can transcribe verbal notes into my blog - that way I could blog while I drive just by speaking. I guess that would be voice recognition coupled with Typepad mobile. Here's how I'd like it to work: I say it, the thing types it, I send it, and it gets posted. That would be cool. Did I get too geeky there or do any of your cell phones do that? My cell phone is a Samsung - SGH-D807 and it's pretty neat but I wonder if this specific functionality is already built in? I'm going to research that. Let me know if any of you out there have the same phone and/or already know the answer to that.
Nuff talk, here's a photo. Here's a black Sugar Skulls lap tee and matching Baby Cuff that I made for a customer's beautiful little girl last month. I didn't get a chance to post it until today, so it's new and in my shop now. If you'd like one for your little girl - go pick it up - and don't forget "Lucy, I'm home!":
I love that Alexander Henry fabric! It's a Latin themed fabric which features sugar skulls paying tribute to the Mexican holiday entitled "Dia De Los Muertos" which translates to Day of the Dead. It's so vibrant with all of its colors, golden sparkles and festiveness - and it makes me super extra happy to use a fabric which is related to my Hispanic and Central American heritage. The tee and cuff are available now in my Etsy shop. And remember...there's a sale going on too! (See 2nd paragraph of this post).
And in other news...here's an update for all you Etsy Bloggers. Here 's the new graphic I made for the Etsy Bloggers Street Team - this is the smallest version - it's actually appears even smaller here within this post:
The small banner is a simple button/link that all team members can put on their individual blogs, to point to the team blog. The button is available for download now, and it comes with instructions too, just in case you're not sure how to get the image onto your blog. Go check it out, you can download it from the team blog here. A medium and a large version will also be available in the next few days - so keep checking the team's blog for updates.
And this my friends is a photo of a part of my workspace - it's for this week's EtsyBloggers theme. Here's a little photo of my sweet shiny iron and some pretty fabric sitting on the shelf, waiting for me:
And here's what I see as I type right now - one of my favorite photos, it's a famous photo of an ancient Greek monastery. This picture reminds me of a village near my home in Greece:
And this is what helps keep me going - it's caffeine gum. I think it's from Japan. It's "Hi-Technical Excellent Taste and Flavor". How funny is that?! All I know is the gum works, big time.
Thanks for sitting thru one of my blog bursts of energy here. Joey's asleep now, I've SEW gotta go.
Get it? I said "I've SEW gotta go"...HAHA...do you see what I just did there?...yes? no?...um...forget it.
Have a beautiful week, and don't forget..."Lucy, I'm home!"
“Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul.”
- Wassily Kandinsky 1886-1944
