remember that To Do List?

the Toot Sweet relaunch is coming, and no one is more excited that yours truly! so remember that list of stuff i had to do before i could relaunch? let me jog that memory of you (teal=completed with notes, pink=still need to get to that):

♥ make a new lightbox - bigger, better, more kitten-proof! i'm thinking either one like this or like this. then take new pics of the inside of my bags.
→ Done and Done. see the results here and here. (the second link is to a listing that includes a pic of the inside of the bag. i did this with all of my bags.)

♥ order new business cards with my new motif
→ Done! check out my new motif on the banner at the top of my blog, and if you bump into me on the street (or purchase from me) you'll get to see how the business card turned out! (thanks to HappyDayGraphics for designing my new motif!)

♥ go thru my whole sewing room and organize, label, purge old stuff
→ Done! i should have taken before shots, because if i post after shots now, they are pretty meaningless, but nonetheless here's a rundown of what i did: donated all fabrics i will not use, sorted all notions into bins, labeled everything, switched my full-sized ironing board for an over-door model (clears a huge area in the room!), and reorganized inventory.

♥ promote! advertise in local coffee shops and businesses, plus post on other etsians' blogs. and tweet tweet!

♥ revamp the format of my listings and tags and the way i list items - i'm thinking database

♥ offer free shipping!! woo hooo!!
→ Done! check out my shop to cash in on this!

♥ photo-swatch each of my available fabrics and upload to my flickr.com fabric site- this will make choosing fabrics for custom bags super-easy!
→ Done! check it out here.

and here's a few more i thought of:

♥ design care instructions, shipping labels, order forms, and coupons and have printed.

♥ get all books in order. this will be a big task!

alright, looks like i have the rest of my work cut out for me!

♥E

New Lightbox - DIY!

remember that list i had of all the stuff i had to do before i could relaunch Toot Sweet!? well check this one off: i made a new lightbox!
it cost me:
$13 plastic bin
$.88 poster board
$9.84 x 2 clip lamps
$6.72 daylight lightbulbs
------------
$40.28 TOTAL

not bad! considering for the size i need to photograph my handbags, i was looking at $60-$100 just for the light tent - i'd still have had to purchase the lamps and bulbs on top of that!

here's the result:


i got the metal clip lamps, as the plastic ones have broken on my in the past. i like the fact that this is a translucent bin - it's solid so the kittens can tear it and i can prop or store it where ever i need to without ricking damage. plus it's opaque enough to where i don't need a sheet over it to diffuse the light.

and here is one of the awesome pictures i cant take in it:

all i had to do to adjust this picture was crop and hit "auto-contrast" in Picasa. to give a point of reference, usually, i have to adjust the fill-light, shadows, highlights, color temp (because normal lightbulbs make the pics very yellow), and sharpen the image*

*the reason i don't have the sharpen the image is because my camera is more steady due to the use of a tripod, which i bought off overstock.com for about $40 (you can get them cheaper, but i liked the reviews for the one i bought the best - always read reviews!)

hope this helps with you out there who need a lightbox alternative!

♥E

Craft Show Preparation

it's time to really kick it in gear for the craft show on april 25th!

i figured out today that i have 13 evenings and 2 full days available until the show to sew and get everything else (signs, pricing, gather displays, etc) ready for the show. the good thing is that i made my lists:
"still need to sew"
"still need to do"
"still need to buy"
"what to bring"
hopefully being organized will help me "keep calm and carry on" instead of "now panic and freak out"!

fortunately, i have a wonderful friend (i just typed "wonderfriend", so from now on she will be known as my wonderfriend!), who i have mentioned before, named Diana, that was a real trooper this weekend and helped me fill in many holes on my "still need to buy list". it was mostly items for the display, and i dragged her all over town saturday morning to countless yard sales, 3 thrift shops, the dollar store, and finally to Joann fabrics. she was then rewarded with a nap, while i was rewarded with a large iced coffee and an afternoon of sewing :)

back to the lists: i've organized it all in excel, with a place for a checkmark as i buy stuff and as we pack up the car the night before the show. here's a taste:

as you can see, i have 2 sub-"kits" that i have deemed the "oh sh*t" kit (lest something go horribly wrong, like rain-arg!), and the "cash kit" (for all of the business-y type stuff, plus the cash).

now all i have to do is get to sewing! yarg! :D

♥E