Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year, Time to Get Crafty!


Every crafter's resolution: make more stuff in the new year.

To get this off to a good start, I'm inviting some friends over to felt with me on the first, tomorrow. No time to waste!

Check out these super-cute projects by Martha Stewart:


The little colored balls and beads might be just right for a single felting session as we're all newbies, however I'm really intrigued by these adorable needle-felted birds:



The video is great to watch. The guest has a site with a gallery of the incredible little critters she's made: http://jenndocherty.com/bears.html

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Cute Last-Minute Gifts for the Neighbors


I made these packets of hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows for the neighbors as easy last-minute Christmas gifts.

I didn't do it alone, I had a little help from two able assistants.



Colin and Ethan helped me with the recipe for the marshmallows I found on Martha Stewart's website:


We had everything we needed in our cupboards to make these up. The hardest part was being patient while the thing whipped itself up to amazing volume in nine minutes.

You pour the mixture out and let it set for a couple of hours while the kids try to lick all the sticky goo that has accumulated on their bodies.

Later, you cut it up into cubes and roll it in a generous amount of powdered sugar.



The hot chocolate was even simpler. Just measure and mix up some dry ingredients. I got premium cocoa and it really tastes great!


I scooped some into some cellophane bags, arranged some marshmallows on a bit of wax paper in another, made a cute label with directions (and our Santa photo) and stapled it all together.

Super easy!

The boys and I delivered them today. Fun!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Cancer Card Brightens a Day!



No other card I make gets me the kind of feedback that my "Hey Cancer! Take THAT!" card gets me.

If you haven't seen it before, it features the popular iconic Rosie the Riveter image... but with a twist.

Pull the tab on the right and her bent arm moves in a rude gesture, to put cancer in its proper place.

In one of my giveaways, one of my winners asked if she could substitute this card for the card that she'd won, giving me a bit of the story. I recently received this feedback from her:

Hi Molly,
I just wanted to let you know how much my mom loved the cancer card.
When she was diagnosed with cancer, our family was worried, of course, but also positive. We were fortunate in that the doctor's found the cancer by accident (if there is such a thing) and in a very early stage.
From the first night we found out, we decided we were going to kick ass and take names. Even though it was my mom's body, we were all in this together and we were strong. Luckily, surgery did the trick and now she's cancer free! We feel like we dodged a bullet and we are so, so happy. Your cancer card fit our situation perfectly. "Take That, Cancer!"
Thank you so much for making such a great card.
Take care,
Darcy
Feedback like this really makes my day! This is EXACTLY why I love to send this card out so much -- making a sale is always fun, but the thought of brightening someone's day with this defiant sentiment is the real motivator for me!

Thank you, Darcy, for taking the time to let me know your story!

Friday, December 18, 2009

Tutorial: Personalized Tacks


I decided I wanted to make tacks for my coworkers for Christmas. They look soooo cute displayed on a piece of leftover bulletin board cork cut to fit inside an Altoid's tin.



The red border of the front of the tin is ready-made for holiday embellishment!

Anyone who's ever made these flattened glass fridge magnets or tacks knows how incredibly simple it is. The hardest part for me was finding nice clear flat marbles -- I used to get them from the craft store or even the dollar store, but lately all I've found there are opalescent or riddled with pock marks.

I finally found some nice ones at a local floral supply store.


My 1/2" circle punch is sure handy for punching out the photos (you can cut out with scissors but it sure does take a lot longer!)



Here you see the different stages. On the left, just a plain, flat glass marble.

Next step: add a small drop of Diamond Glaze (what a wonderful adhesive!).

Press your photograph face down into the drop, pressing down so that some gooshes out of the edges (then you know it's covered the whole photo).

Add another drop of Diamond Glaze.

Press down the tack.

That's it!

It's so simple I did them all in one quick crafty evening. What made this gift a little extra special was the presentation. I cut the cork to fit the inside of the Altoids tin. The tin would be an equally cute way to gift refrigerator magnets made with this same technique.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

One Pretty Thing: Craft Roundup!




Ever wish that someone could take the work out of browsing the web for the good stuff?

One Pretty Thing does just that, for people who love to craft! Every day, it features one daily do-it-yourself theme, like "Crafts for Kids," "Gifts for Grandparents," "Printable Roundup" and delivers the very best online tutorials for the very best the web has to offer.

Myself, I have my eye on that cute soldered photo pendant tutorial...

Check it out! Enjoy!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Customer Spotlight: Jungle Invitations for a Baby Shower!


Oh my GOODNESS! Is that cake the cutest thing or what?

And the amazingly decorated cookies! Yow!

I had a customer who wanted to use my jungle invitations for a baby shower -- they've been used that way probably more often than for birthday parties already, a super cute theme!


Rovie was kind enough to send me photos recently of the shindig. Doesn't it look amazing?

I loved hearing this:

"The invitations were a BIG HIT! Oh, yes!! Everyone raved about them (both kids and adults alike).

I am super thrilled that you made them because it set the tone for party which, by the way, was a huge success!"



This is what went on the back of the invitations (all of my spinning wheel invitations can have overflow text go on the back easily):



I love books as a gift for a baby shower! I know that of all the wonderful items we received when the twins were born (clothes, gear, toys, etc), it's the books that we still have and still look at occasionally.

Rovie was such a fun customer! We worked together on getting these absolutely perfect -- she asked me to substitute a lion in place of the tiger as the new mom and dad are associated with a monkey and a lion.

So much fun!

Thanks so much for sending me photos, Rovie!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Online Auction -- amazing and wonderful items!



Looking for a way to snag some amazing gifts this holiday season AND give back a little bit? Here is a great opportunity! Starting today, there will be a charity auction at BLOOM (www.placetobloom.blogspot.com) to benefit Claire and Benson Skinner.

Here's a helpful link to the entire list of auction items! Mine is #53.

As explained by their parents, "Benson and Claire were born with a rare genetic disease in which their liver produces too much oxalate--called primary hyperoxaluria. Claire's condition has progressed much faster than Benson's. She has been on dialysis since she was 3 months old and is on dialysis 3 hours a day, 6 days a week. She is now on the waiting list to receive a combined kidney / liver transplant. It is expected Benson will eventually need similar transplants."

Read more about the Skinners' experience.

All proceeds from the auction at BLOOM will go directly to Claire's COTA (Children's Organ Transplant Association) account to help pay for her transplant. Please head over to BLOOM now for the auction! It ends on Saturday!

Check out the auction now! (remember to click to see all 82 items!)

Monday, December 7, 2009

Featured on Etsy's home page!



Whoo hoo!

I'm so excited! My pop-up Elegant Elephant Card has been featured on Etsy's home page!

Yippee!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Help for Two Adorable Children



Reading this blog post made me want to weep:


Two little kids with a terrible disease. The little girl has to be on dialysis for 15 hours a DAY (12 at night, three during the day). They need liver and kidney transplants. Sometimes I think it's hard to be a parent and then I read about something like this and I realize all that I have to be thankful about.

Anyway, the gist of the blog posting was that they were holding an online auction to raise money to help and they were seeking donations to this cause.

I picked out a bunch of cards and I'll see if this works for them -- the deadline for donations has already passed, but I hope that they can still use them.



I feel lucky to be in a position to help, even just a little bit.

When the auction goes live, I'll link to it here!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Another Grown-Up Party Invitation Order



My invitations were originally designed for kids parties, but there's nothing wrong with using them for a fun-loving adult!

The above invites were created for an adult's 30th birthday party. Adam is having his party at a place called Medieval Times, which hosts real live battles and a feast for the guests. It looks like a total fun.

Anyway, I love how Adam's face looks, peeking out from the knight's helm. So cute!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Tualatin Country Club Craft Fair






Yesterday, my friends, Christine Thatcher and Kathy Larsen and I met at the Tualatin Country Club. Christine had heard of a Ladies' Luncheon which included a vendor area.

Since it seems clear that we need to reach an audience with deeper pockets (the better to appreciate our fine wares), this seemed like the perfect opportunity for us!

The Country Club provided tables with cloths and skirting. We were allowed one 8' table and one 5' round, which meant we were a bit squished, but, as Christine had mentioned, we could make good use of vertical space.

With complementary offerings, we artfully wove together all of our offerings, trying to find ways to use every bit of available space.

I think we did really well! Click on the photos above to enlarge any of the images. You can see how Christine's jewelry is arranged throughout, Kathy's lavender offerings are placed strategically about and my cards flank each end and get little spots here and there.

The effect we were shooting for was of a small boutique.

I have to say that after checking out some other lackluster displays that I really think ours was, hands down, really great! Most people simply laid their work out without any thought to display. In some ways, being cramped for space forced us to use our scanty area very sparingly and things ended up looking great!

One really nice thing for our customers was that, thanks to Christine and Kathy, we could accept credit cards, which was pleasing to some and really had them looking through our items thoroughly before committing a charge to their card.

Overall, sales were a bit of a disappointment. I think I gained about $35, plus I put some cards in trade towards an AMAZING cashmere shawl (which is keeping me nicely cozy now) from a really sweet vendor, Naturally Knotty Designs (check out their websites for information about their sustainable practices).

The cashmere shawl I scooped up (Kathy and I got the last two black ones) is a nice, medium-weight. The gal told me that these items were leftover from a set that Nordstrom had purchased from them last year and which retailed for $300! Mine for only $25 and a handful of pop-up cards! Whoo hoo!

We all had fun together -- it was much easier for me to "sell" Christine and Kathy's wares than my own (it seems too braggy to talk about your own stuff so much). It was a lot of fun watching people's reactions to my cards, if they were into them. While we all made little in sales, it was still good experience.

I think, all in all, though, I'm realizing that there's not much to be made off of pop-up cards on the craft fair circuit. At least for now (whether it be the recession or craft fair oversaturation).

Better to concentrate on etsy or branch further into the retail market!

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Superior Scribbler Award!



My friend, Jessica Smedley, sent me this Bloggy Award! Whoo hoo!

Jess is the scribe behind the "Have We Met" blog which has been chronicling her encounters with irritating people, her culinary exploits and, lately, some holiday angst. She lives, unwillingly, in North Carolina but someday, maybe she'll return to Portland and we can be friends outside of of the internets.

So, the rules of the award are listed below (this is a little like some crazy chain mail idea or maybe a pyramid scheme, but with lots more internet traffic involved). Like Jess, I'm going to state a few random facts about myself:

  • A doctor once told me that if my blood pressure got any lower, I'd have to get a pacemaker (but years of a high-sodium diet and sloth have happily reversed this!)
  • I started this website: http://www.techforchildren.org/ for a colleague at work who had been selling stuffed animals door-to-door for orphans in Laos and Thailand.
  • Our cat, Joey, has 24 toes, seven on each front paw. It looks like her has furry slippers on all the time. Our other cat, Gus, is 18 and looking forward to voting in the next election.
  • I often have to drag my husband to the latest action flick with car chases and disaster sequences. Love them!
  • As a teen I played Dungeons and Dragons avidly and still consider myself a total nerd at heart.
And here are my nominees for the Bloggy Award:

  • http://extremecards.blogspot.com/ This blog, written by my cyberfriend, Carol, is chock full of wonderful tutorials and inspiration for the pop-up card maker. It's a must-see!
  • http://www.craftypod.com/ Sister Diane runs this blog and also hosts a podcast, the CraftyPod. Both are wonderful and cover crafts of all kinds! She has been very supportive of this budding etsy entrepeneur!
  • http://theinfiniteblog.wordpress.com/ Nicolette, of Singapore, was the person who first put in a a wholesale order with me last year when she was selling handmade cards at flea markets. Since then, she's got her own store, renting part of a larger store, with a partner, to sell the goodies she finds from crafters. This blog chronicles her adventures!
  • http://modpodgerocks.blogspot.com/ The name of the blog says it all, doesn't it? Amy keeps the creative juices flowing with a constant flow of cute and interesting craft projects, all featuring Mod Podge.
  • http://hip2save.blogspot.com/ Want to save some serious money? Check out the constant stream of amazing deals found at this blog! Absolutely incredible bargains!
Of course, as with every Bloggy Award, there are A Few Rules. They are, forthwith:
Don't forget to add your name to the long list of links! I'm number 1325... whoo hoo!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

DoggoneKnitting Collar Featured on City Dog Magazine!



My friend Wendy, of the etsy shop DoggoneKnitting, has been featured in City Dog Magazine!


Amazing!

Apparently her screams, when she discovered her Gingerbread Man Dog Collar featured on the site at last (she's known about it for months) were enough to make her long-suffering husband, Patrick, fear for her life.

Wendy started out on etsy sometime before I did, making baby booties. Inspired by her success, I jumped in as well.

Now, Wendy's famous! And selling dog collars and leashes at Doggone Knitting and super darling sewn pouches and handbags at QueenBeeHandmade.

Check it out! She's had amazing sales and terrific feedback! I think it's a matter of time before you'll see Wendy featured in an Etsy "How I Quit My Day Job" article....


Monday, November 30, 2009

An Up-Pop Tutorial and Link to Interactive Card Blanks



Carol, from the wonderful ExtremeCards Blog just posted a terrific tutorial on how to make an up-pop box. Check it out! It's pretty cool...

She also mentions how Whitney Woods, which makes very amazing promotional products, has jumped into the craft market, with (among other treasures) blanks for some of their very popular, interactive marketing materials. These are really cool...

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Stop Action Papercutting Video



This is absolutely amazing.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Just one more holiday card....



I had said that I was totally done earlier this week -- I was totally flogged after pumping up my inventory for craft fairs -- but here's just one more... a special request from Nicolette, who owns a little retail shop in Singapore.

It's a Three Reasons card, so you turn the wheel to 1, 2 and 3 and write in your personal reasons in the window.

I have to take some photos, but I can probably post this to etsy pretty soon! Yay!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Winners of the Elf Pop-Up Cards!




The giveaway for the pop-up elf card ended at noon today! I selected five random winners and they are:

Aileen, Erma, Janette, Jolt, and Bandbabe (Bandbabe didn't leave an email address -- if this is you, please email me and I'll send you your prize!)

I had an amazing number of people sign up for this drawing! In the past, I was pretty excited to get more than 30 responses. This time, I got more than 60!

Like before, I found a number of online blogs and giveaway sites that allowed you to register your giveaways for free. I also advertised via Google Adsense, which brought me a number of click-throughs, which might have helped. And I posted this on FaceBook and tweeted about it. Cyberspace offers so many ways to promote something like this!

Hearing all the positive comments about my cards really was very exciting and very helpful for me to know what it is that people like about my little shop. Oddly enough, the items that were picked out aren't necessarily the items that sell well (My Lazy Daisy cards were mentioned several times but they've never sold a single time!).

This giveaway went so well that I'm very likely to do at least one more before the holidays are over, especially since I now have other holiday designs. And, of course, there will be future drawings for other cards as well.

If this is something you're interested in, let me know!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

New Christmas Tree Pop-Up Card!


This card came together really fast! It' easy when the artwork is beautiful and inspiring. Plus, I had most of the mechanics already worked out -- this card shares a common genetic identity with my Giraffe card.

It's the first card in my 180 degreee stand-up series that I've printed on the pop-up -- usually, as for my African Animal series, I leave the subject white, so that the simple white silhouette has more power, but in this festive card, I know that this artwork is a real winner.


I think this would be a nice card for people to send out -- you don't get many unusual pop-up cards in the holiday mail and it would certainly stand out! I'm going to offer free personalization on orders with at least ten cards, I think...


In other news, my Elf Pop-Up Card Giveaway is going strong! I can't believe I have more than 30 entries already and still half of the week to go. I love love LOVE hearing all the nice comments from people about the things in my store -- it's really worth it just to get that kind of feedback! Plus it's nice to know what people are liking. I got several comments, for instance about my Summer Breezes Thank You Notes, which I never thought of as being anything special.

Anyway, I'll pick some random winners on Sunday, so if you haven't already entered to win, head on over and do so! All you have to do is leave a comment (or more for extra chances). There are five cards being given away, so the odds are really good.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Holiday Elf Pop-Up Card Giveaway!



I was at PaperZone yesterday and heard it: Christmas music merrily filling the store with song.

REALLY? The kids haven't even eaten the good stuff from their Halloween candy yet!

But after the initial annoyance, I realized that I had a choice. You know that old adage, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em?

Well, I'm kicking off my OWN premature Christmas season with a giveaway!

Five lucky random winners will each receive one Pop-Up Holiday Elf Card.

How to enter? All you have to do is check out my etsy shop and then come back here and leave a comment about one of my cards. Pick one that you like and tell me what you like about it! Be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you if you're a winner!

For a second chance to win, you can follow this blog and leave a comment saying that you do so (if you already follow me, just leave a comment saying that you already do).

For a third chance, become a FaceBook fan by clicking on the link. Don't forget to leave a comment letting me know that you're a fan!

And, lastly, if you have a blog, mention this giveaway on your blog and leave a comment letting me know with a link to your blog post.

This giveaway ends in one week, November 15, at noon and winners will be announced at this post. Winners will also be notified and the prizes will be shipped out shortly thereafter.

With any luck, you could be sending some premature holiday cheer before Thanksgiving hits!

What are you waiting for? DO IT!

-------------------------

We have WINNERS!

I will be emailing Aileen, Erma, Janette and Jolt! to get their shipping addresses so I can send their prizes! Bandbabe is also a winner, but didn't leave an email address. If that's you, please click on my profile and send me an email!

Everybody else: THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING! I can't believe I got so many responses! I loved hearing all your comments and I plan to be doing more giveaways quite soon!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Powell's Order II: DONE!



Okay, JUST finished with my ginormous Powell's wholesale order:
Whoo hoo! I have to say that this involved MANY nights of work. I'm not even really sure if I'm making any money, given that my printer ink costs have SKYROCKETED with my new Epson printer (lovely prints, archival and water resistant, but totally guzzles very expensive ink). But I just really love that they are in the local bookstore and, apparently, selling well.

Packaging for retail involves a little extra something. A few of my cards require a little explanation. Even for the simple animal pop-ups, which are pretty self-explanatory, I need to put something on the front to let the casual browser know that there's something fun on the inside (otherwise I'm sure they'll just pass by the mostly simple fronts for something flashier).

Some of the labels and things below:


Powell's opens at nine this morning -- I'll drop these off then!

(and, with any luck, they'll make it out to the actual floor next week!)

I'm really excited to see how my holiday elves cards fare...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

New holiday cards! Elf pop-up card!



Remember those elves in "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (the one we saw as kids on TV every year by Rankin & Bass)?

I love this elf for how he reminds me of someone that Hermey might have hung out with.

As the card is opened, the elf pops up from behind the presents (emerging from a slot in the card) to present you with "joy."

I struggled with this one for AGES, but I'm really happy with how it turned out at last!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Jewelry Party/Craft Fair Warmup!

My friend Christine makes jewelry as ChristineMarieStudio. Christine's cousin-in-law was having a housewarming and she thought it would be fun to turn it into a showcase for Christine's work. Ever generous, Christine invited me and our friend Kathy, who have a lavender farm and has done the crafting circuit for years now, to join her as vendors.

Christine and Kathy did all the work in setting up a terrific display the night before (I had kid duty that night), borrowing props from Christine's mom, really pretty stuff. Here's my little card display:


(sorry for the blurriness -- I didn't want to disturb the guests with the flash)

The two main tables had Christine's jewelry stands interspersed with Kathy's lavender baskets and shorter things.


I think it looks so very inviting! That's Christine in the cashier's corner, above.



In the past, I've always had a policy that I'd rather gnaw off my left arm than attend a "party" where the sole purpose was to guilt my friends into buying products so that the hostess could have a nicer hostess gift, but this was actually fun! Christine's cousin had a loveliest house and the food was incredible! And the guests, who were mostly family, were very welcoming.

I made $44 just for showing up! Christine and Kathy did very well also. Kathy and I spent much of the evening sitting on the sofa while Christine worked the crowd -- our role was apparently completely ornamental.

This was sort of a warm-up for craft fairs. We have a little employee craft fair coming up later this month, which is quite low-key. After that, I'll be ready to take on something bigger!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Personalized wooden blocks


Check out this wonderful tutorial! You can transfer colorful images like the one above using an inkjet printer, elmer's glue and mod podge -- AMAZING!



What a wonderful gift for a new baby -- personalized play blocks!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Superhero card saves the day!



One of my readers won the "Tell Her Three Reasons Why She's Your Superhero" card in a recent giveaway. When I notified him, he told me:
"I just had my 20th reunion and my wife (who didn't go to school with me) was instrumental in making the event a success. She is my Superhero!"
Nice, eh? I loved hearing that!

Today, I received a note from him:
"She got it today. I stayed home with our son and she substituted at school today. I put it in the mailbox with the other mail before she got home.
She came in with tears, she loved it! It was perfect since she had a rough day. She substitutes in the special needs room at the elementary school and this year's class is especially tough.
Thank you for having the contest and allowing me to touch the heart of my favorite person in the world. Being unemployed, I don't get that opportunity very often these days."
I'm a bit of a pushover for a sentimental story and I have to admit to tearing up when I read his note.

Thanks, Scott, for passing this on! You've made my day!

Because I'm so pleased with how much the three reasons series cards seem to touch the hearts of those who receive it, I'm lowering the price of all of them by a dollar.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Powell's: Order Two!



Getting my first order at Powell's was pretty exciting. 54 cards seemed like a really big order!

Today, I heard back from them. The card buyer told me: "Your cards did very well. I am so pleased."

Hooray!

She's upping the quantities considerably, so now I'll be putting together an order of 156 cards.

Whoo hoo!

The timing is actually quite perfect as I've been gearing up for a couple of little crafty events, so I've been trying to increase my inventory anyway. At the end of the craft season, I should have some extra to get a really good start on this big order.

This also comes at a time when I've been making serious eyes at the iPod touch, which I've just learned can connect me to email and the internet when I'm away from home. Honestly, when I'm out and about, I go through serious etsy withdrawals and the thought of being able to stay connected is pretty thrilling to me. This big order might just be the excuse I need to make a fun little purchase...

Thanks for listening!

(P.S. The text on the marquee on that Powell's photo is photoshopped, of course!)


Sunday, October 18, 2009

"Brown" Princess Invitations Done!



Here she is! The customer approved my comps for my new African-American princess invitations yesterday and I was able to pop these into the morning mail later that day.

She'd asked for soft green accents, which go so beautifully with the pink dress.

I LOVE these!

Now I need to find artwork for an Asian princess...

Friday, October 16, 2009

Adding "Brown"



I had a customer ask me if I could customize my Princess invitations so that she could order a brown version.

Totally ethnocentrically (and I'm not even white!) I told her that I could change the hair or dress color, whatever she liked.

Of COURSE she was asking if the princess could be customized to an African-American version! Duh!

And how did I miss that opportunity??? Anyway, I found that great artwork and added an option to my princess birthday party invitation listing.

SUCH a good idea! (wish I'd come up with it!)


Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Halloween giveaway going frighteningly well!

I'm pleased with the traffic I've gotten to my Halloween Card Giveaway so far!

In the past, I've been reluctant to do a giveaway on my blog because I was afraid that I'd get a lame 1 or 2 responses. This would just be so sad!

But then I looked around at various web resources for ways to publicize my giveaway. There are a bunch of great ones! Just google something like "free blog giveaways" and you'll get a whole list of different sites that feature some of the great stuff you can enter to win on the internet! Because blogs are typically less trafficked than, say, a national print campaign, your odds of winning these prizes are a lot higher!

On many of these sites, there's a link for your to submit your own giveaway.

This discovery encouraged me to go ahead and do it -- the idea is to get some new eyeballs over to my store.

Here's one of those sites:




It was really easy to find a link to submit my giveaway information.

When I did, I was also given a choice to purchase a small ad with the assurance that the ads typically received many times the traffic that a simple listing would get. Okay, I was sold and the price was quite low, so I went for it! I've highlighted my ad on the right.

In order to enter my drawing to win one of five Halloween cards, you have to leave a comment on my blog letting me know which card at my etsy shop you like and why. You can enter a second time by becoming a follower of my blog. By becoming my fan on Facebook, you get a third chance to win.

All of these, of course, expose people to my cards and may result in future sales, so this is excellent. I've seen a serious uptick in the traffic to my site. And people's comments have been seriously kind.

In addition to promoting the giveaway on the free blog giveaways site, I also purchased some spots on Project Wonderful. My favorite pop-up card blog is http://extremecards.blogspot.com/. If you visit Carol's terrific site, you'll see my ad on the right side. She's also very kindly plugged my giveaway in a recent post (so right back at you, Carol!).

All of this activity has resulted in a satisfying number of entries to my contest -- 20 so far!

It's hard to tell if any of this activity has resulted in any sales yet, but, heck! It couldn't hurt... and it's kind of fun to try something new!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Halloween Giveaway!



------------------------------------------------------------------------

The five winners of this contest have been selected. They are:

Janil, Whimcees, Darcy, malibu.bunny.xo and PeaceSweetPeas.The lucky five have been sent emails letting them know.

Thanks to all who participated in my giveaway -- I REALLY enjoyed hearing all your terrific comments. It's the first time I've ever done a giveaway from my own blog and it was so successful that I'm planning on doing it on a regular basis.

Thanks again!

------------------------------------------------------------------------
I love these Halloween Pop-Up Ghost cards! I'm so pleased with them that I want to share them with YOU, in my very first giveaway!

This giveaway will select FIVE lucky winners, each of whom will be sent that spooky card.

To enter, all you have to do is visit my etsy shop and leave a comment here letting me know which card in the store you like best and why. You comment must include your email address so that I can contact you afterwards to award you your prize (or be sure that I can get it via your Blogger profile).

To enter a second time, become a follower of this blog and leave another comment (if you're already a follower, just leave the comment).

You can enter a third time by becoming a fan on my Facebook site (again, if you're already a fan, just leave me a comment letting me know).

I will select five random winners after all entries are in Tuesday, October 20th (midnight, Pacific) and announce them here, on this blog post.

Good luck!

Molly

Friday, October 9, 2009

Knight Invitations with Child's Face



I just completed an order of Knight Invitations. This is the first such order that took advantage of the option to have them personalized with the child's face.

It's funny, I get "runs" of a certain type of invitation. This is my month for Knight Invitations!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Recycled Magazine Gift Bows



How About Orange is full of wonderful little ideas, like this one for making gift bows out of recycled magazine pages. The one above is from a map of Chicago.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Giveaway with Craftypod!



I've partnered with Craftypod, my absolute favorite podcast, for a fun giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment at the Craftypod blog (telling me which card you'd like to win and including your email so I can contact you) to qualify to win a pop-up card! Hop on over now!