TRADE5 $5 sale

today (sept 18) thru sunday (sept 20) the trade-a-holics team is having a $5 sale!

just search etsy for the term "TRADE5" to see all the stuff we have marked down for just $5!

here are just some of the lovely items on sale now in my shop:





and there's more - check it out before the sale is over!

♥E

i held my breathe and..

i got an etsy treasury! holy cow! for the first time ever! i was on craftopolis.com and on there they have a really neat feature called the "treasury clock", which counts down to when the next time the treasury will be open. i saw it approaching, went there, and got one!

you should check it out:

i'm lovin the pink, i mean, it is my favorite color and all :)

♥E

HomeStudio: scrabble tile pendant

the other day on etsy, i came across the shop HomeStudio who makes these awesome little pendants from scrabble tiles! while there were, like, a million i wanted to purchase, i limited myself to 4 (they have special 3 and 4 pack deals!), one for myself, and three to give as gifts.

pick in the gifts was the easy part, but for myself, not so much. i realized i really wanted a sewing machine. so i convo'd the shop, and Mark there promptly convo'd me back saying that he had a b/w antique-y looking one that he could do. perfecto!

check it out:


if you order the pendant with a chain, it comes with a ball chain, but i put mine on a box chain i already had:
thanks Stef and Mark at HomeStudio! (i litereally wear this everyday!)

♥E

DIY dishwasher indicator

james and i have been having some issues lately with trying to remember/communicate whether the dishwasher is currently loaded with clean dishes or dirty dishes. since the dishwasher is magnetic, i decided a magnet indicator was in order.

i decided also to show you how to make one for yourself! this only took me about 20 minutes (takes me longer when i photograph); it would be a great project to do with kids and to personalize as you like!

1) choose an unused magnet off the fridge (reuse!)

this one looks good (it's my high school hotline number...i graduated quite some time ago and live about 5 states away...perfect!)
2) gather your supplies: mod podge, sponge-brush (sorry it has paint residue on it), scissors/paper cutting tools, brownish paper, white paper (plus stamps and pads, we'll see these later)
3) cut white paper to proper width. you'll only be covering half of the magnet with each color.
4) glue the white paper to the magnet.

5) repeat the cutting and gluing with the brown paper.


this is what you should get:
6) here's where you can really personalize it. i got out the stamps! i wanted to keep it sweet and simple, so i used my lil' letter stamps:


7) stamp "CLEAN" on the white side of the magnet:
8) stamp "DIRTY" on the brown side, upside-down from the word "CLEAN". that way when you have clean dishes in the dishwasher, you face the "CLEAN" side of magnet up (so it can be read), or visa-versa when the dishes are dirty.
you should now have this:
you can really do anything on either side! a little picture of stacked dishes versus dirty dishes would be cute, use your imagination!

here's mine in action:
shoot - now i have to unload the dishwasher...

♥E

Handmade Wedding Part I: hankies!

ok, here it is, my first post about my semi-handmade wedding! with a glue-gun and sewing machine, i was able to make it something truly unique!

Handmade Wedding I: Hankies!
so as you know, i had my dress made for me by a wonderfully talented seamstress in indianapolis, sarah barrett. she had quite a bit of remnants leftover from the dress that she sent along to me, since she knows i sew. all in all there was the ivory silk for the main part of the dress, the silk lining, and the lacey beaded trim.

my dad says to me, "you could make a matching purse out of this for the wedding!"

good plan, daddy-o! except that i was going with a gold vintage theme, and had a (yes, you guessed it) gold vintage purse to carry that day.

SOOO...i decided to make...hankies! for my parents, jamie's parents, and both of us (counting...2...4...5,6..yep that's 6!). i set up a little assembly line and got stitchin'!

All lined up and ready to go:

i cut a 8x8 inch square of both the main silk and the liner, and sligned them right-sides-together. then i added a 3inch piece of trim diagonally across one of the corners, between the main silk and the liner. pin in place!

then i sewed all around the perimeter of the hankie, leaving about an inch opening. be sure to backstitch at the beginning and end (around the inch opening). it makes turing the hankie a lot easier.

after i turned each, i pressed each one flat (not ironed! what's the difference?).

after pressing each hankie, i returned to the machine and again sewed around the perimeter, carefully tucking the 1-inch opening inside, closing off the hankie.

(like my ring? there's a wedding band with it there now :)

back on track - when the whole perimeter was stiched, i snipped threads and ta-da!

look how pretty that is, eh? so i folded them up and packed them real pretty-like into thier own boxes, with pretty little ribbons. (of couse i neglected to photograph this part, but just imagine...)

i pinned mine to the handle of my bouquet like so:

happy sewing!

♥E

GREEN Spring Cleaning: Part I

As we approach the time for tax refunds and warmer weather (hopefully!), we also approach the most wonderful time of the year - Spring Cleaning!! Ok, I know it seems that I am getting way to excited about it, but I find it cathartic to purge those items which I no longer use and send them to a better home. It's also a great time for me to discover lots of new materials with which to make more handbags and accessories for YOU!

The cool thing is that I am not the only one out there that does this. Check out this article from Suite101 that talks all about green crafting and how we can all be a little more Earth-conscious when we are going through our yearly "out with the old, in with the new" ritual.

<3E

Crafty Christmas

Due to crazy extenuating circumstances (ok, we ALL have those), James and I have decided to give (mostly) handmade gifts for Christmas this year. And it's getting to crunch time. Good thing that we have an off-Friday this week. Enter: Fun-Filled Friday and Super Saturday-two days of sewing and crafting before Stressed-Out Sunday when we pack and head to Orlando to catch our flight to CT on Manic Monday.

Watch for the resulting post of how it turns out and what kind of new products I come up with.

<3E

The Results Are In...

Friday Fest was a hit with my friends, but not so much with the public. Thank you THANK YOU to all of my wonderful friends who came out to support me!

Although I discovered that Friday Fest is not the best venue for me, I did discover that I have a pretty good display (thank you Jamie!) and I learned some things that I need to do for next time. I also got my card out there and spread the word about Toot Sweet, which is just as important right now as selling. I also learned that my office-mate, Diana, is an AMAZING sales-woman! She can sell "me" like no other! Which is good, since I believe I am becoming more intoverted the older I get...

That's me at my booth! I was the ONLY one without a tent. Don't you love the "open" sign that just happened to be in the background? I'm livin' the dream!

<3e>