It's Late; I'm Supposed To Be Working…

But, instead, I'll blog a little. I have several things to show and tell.

SHOW:

ONE: Look at my sweet gift from Erna in Holland! She made me this darling bag with an appliqued Babushka! I am in love with these little designs. Erna also sent me a pretty little bird ornament and some cherry tea. I had pictures of those, but the memory stick in the camera went bad. By the time I found out my photos were lost, I had dispersed everything around the house. So, I just took a picture of the little sweetie by herself.

TWO: My apron from the Sassy Apron Swap arrived (see below). Boy, did I luck out! Christy did such a terrific job! The colors are great and the detail is fantastic! It's reversible, too. I hope she doesn't mind, but I snagged a picture from her site. The apron looks so much better on her dress form than on a hanger against my wall! Again, I had the problem with the memory stick, so the original pictures of me wearing the apron went bust -- there could be more than one reason for that :) --and we haven't had another photo shoot. Anyway, Christy is a great seamstress. She journals her way through her projects, and she is pretty witty. You'll have to check out her blog and see what she is sewing up right now.

THREE: This is the apron I sent out in the Sassy Apron Swap (see below). Mine is on its way to "Ollie" in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada! I think she will like the fabric, as it seems similar to the Amy Butler fabric she used for her swap apron. Then, of course, I had to embroider the pocket. I was worried the style wasn't right, even though I was going for the eclectic mix, but it was done, and I didn't have anymore of that nice polka dot. I hope she loves it. Camille does! However, this time, for the first time, I finally made TWO swap things at once, so I don't really lose out on a good thing. Well, the second isn't quite made, you know, I still have to actually sew it together …

AND TELL:

This might be interesting to Etsy storekeepers and customers alike. For those of you who don't know about Etsy, it is sort of an e-bay for crafters, but no auctions, just buying.

Today, I stopped by Craft Boom, and a podcast was featured on CraftyPod regarding marketing yourself as an Etsy seller. It was very interesting. First, I had never listened to a podcast before, so it was finally nice to have a reason to do so, and second, I thought the interviewee, All Things Littleput, was pretty thoughtful about her approach to marketing and helping others. You'll have to check out the podcast at CraftyPod and then check out the above site and see her art and store.

Now, to those of you reading this late tonight, please send me encouragement to keep working until I'm done. The kids have the state mock trial competition tomorrow, so I have to get my work turned in early before leaving for the day. To those of you reading this tomorrow, please send me brainwaves of Diet Coke WITH caffeine so I can stay sharp through three rounds of mock trial! It's supposed to be raining cats and dogs here, so I will probably be wishing for a cozy couch and a blanket. Then we do it all again on Saturday!