A winner and a big thank you!

C enjoyed being the important person to draw the lucky winner when he came home from work last night. He turned it into a big show and I wish you could have seen it too (very entertaining!). In the end he finally managed to draw one piece of paper from the bowl and it's emma (emsan)!!! I'll make sure to get your little package on its way as soon as possible, Em! Now I need to thank each and every one of you! Your suggestions are deeply appreciated!
I am in the middle of trying to put your ideas to practice. The suggestion to add some less expensive items, which came from quite a few of you, is probably a very good one!!! I already have something in mind. Let's see how that will turn out.
I don't think I'll be able to lower the prices in general. Of course I do love to sew and it does bring a lot of joy but unfortunately fabrics, thread, buttons, zippers, a.s.o. are fairly expensive in Germany and I'd really like to make some profit too... just to make up for all the time I spend on every single item and just so I can buy more fabris and sewing supplies actually.
Once I'll add some more items I'll most definitely start to use different categories and if I should actually have a creative moment I might even come up with better names for the things I make.
To list items as often as possible is probably another very good advice... at least that's what I read now in some forums too! I never thought of listing one item at a time but that way of course one will be easier to be found during searches.

I hope to get it all fixed within this month and will probably post about it once its done. Thanks bunches! You all rock!

Overwhelmed!

I really am overwhelmed by all your responses to my last post!!! First of all it sets a new record (regarding the numer of comments and I really could get used to that!) and then I really like all your thoughtful ideas and suggestions! I'm definitely going to consider each and every one of them. I'm already working on some things I'm going to change/add.
All of your comments are very helpful to me! Thank you so much for taking the time and sharing your thoughts!I now do remember why I didn't have more giveaways on here. The thought that just one of you will be rewarded for her efforts is not a very nice one! Unlike last time I unfortunetly won't be able to change my guidelines and can't sent something to everybody who participated (6 people where much easier to handle back then).Time to show you what exactly you could win, I guess. I decided to keep one item a surprise though. I hope you'll like these as much as I liked your comments... keep them coming! You still have until Sunday night!

A Giveaway!

I just realized that I missed my blog anniversary, my 100th post and even my 15oth post! Since my last (and only) giveaway was ages ago I figured another one was more than due. I really want to thank everybody who ever commented here and also every silent reader I might have. (I'm not a frequent commentor myself but there are a lot of blogs I enjoy on an almost daily basis and I'm glad there are so many creative people out there which inspire me and keep me going!)Now here's the idea:
All you need to do to be entered into the drawing is check my Etsy store and then come back and leave me some constructive feedback or give me some advice on what to change or tell me the selling-strategy that works best for you. Anything goes! I swear I won't take it personally. You may keep it short if you prefer to do that.
What do you get for all your effort?!
The chance to win some strawberry goodies! This little bag and some other cute things I'll put inside. I already have three items I'll include but I'm also waiting for something else I ordered. For now you'll have to believe me that it's awesomley cute stuff but I may upload a picture once I got it all together! You can only enter into the contest once (even though I'll appreciate each and every feedback you might want to leave me at any time!) and it is important that you comment here and NOT on flickr to be entered into the drawing!
I'll close this contest next Sunday, August 3rd at midnight (CET). Then I'll let C. do the drawing on Monday and announce the winner here.

Thank you for participating and GOOD LUCK!

Done!

I finished 11 of these cuties. I wanted to take a picture of all of them together but that seems to be harder than I expected. Maybe it's just to windy or maybe I need to chop down some trees first or mabe I simply need a studio?! I'll have to try again later. Right now I need to clean up the mess in the kitchen and the living room. Why can't I seem to sew without leaving nothing but chaos behind?

What to do...

...with all those pretty scraps?

ETA: Thanks to marzipan I know what to do with them now: fabric pom poms. You all need to look at Molly Chicken's tutorial. Isn't that fabulous?!

On the roof top!

Our cats like to hang-out on our roof or the surrounding ones. They can just jump from one to another or balance over the connecting balks. Of course the cats of our neighbors think that these are cool places too, so today I was met by this girl who greeted me very friendly.I'm not sure what she thinks of Mücke and Juri or what they think of her. I'm sure we'll see find out soon because my boys certainly won't give up this spot. See this grumpy and feisty little guy?On another note... Mass production is not my kind of thing but I think I should do it more often. It saves a lot of time that's for sure!I hope to finish these WIPs tomorrow.

A Whimsy Jar!

My first actually. I've seen quite a few on flickr before and really liked how the looked. I think that is a super special way to pack your gifts. I like the fact that there is no trash involved and that you can use the packing again and again for lots of different things.And you know what I like about it too? You get to store all the little gifts together until it is time to give them away. Unless you forget where you store the jar you won't be searching for all the tiny gifts you bought along the way. Oh, I think it's just neat!I made this one for a swap on swap-bot but it certainly will not have been my last! Decorating alone is so much fun. I might need to keep a few just for me... you can never have enough jars in your house to store all the bits and bobs, can you?

Is it a pig?!

I gave rubber stamp carving another try and I'm a lot more pleased this time! It still isn't perfect but way better than last time. Oh the possibilities! I do see another addiction coming. I'm not sure what this little guy up there is supposed to be. I was thinking "Pig!" but C. insisted that it's a dog. Other opinions?

Nice weekend!

Sunday turned out to be especially nice! The humming of lots of bumble-bees in our yard was just as sweet as watching them fly from blossom to blossom.We were invited by Hanni and Sofia in the afternoon and had some delicious cake: I only snatched a picture of the chocolate strawberry muffins (and the chocolate cake in the back) but there was also pastry filled with marzipan and currents. Yum!Since we also got to meet Hanni's friend for the first time since she had given birth to a little boy I brought along a little diaper bag to match her granny bag.
And I also sewed a little drawstring pouch for Sofia filled with a few little gifts.Can you tell how much I love the Lecien rose fabric?! It's kind of embarrassing. You could think this is the only kind of fabric I have and that is so not true! Oh well, I can't help it right now...

Fabric covered buttons and a swap!

I love fabric covered buttons and I love swapping, so when I saw the announcement for the fabric button swap I knew I had to join. It really felt good to get creative and do a little sewing (and a tiny bit of embroidery) again. I guess I need a little pressure once in a while.I'm not even sure what the little something I made for my partner Katie would be called. Basically you can keep a little notebook inside or maybe a couple of postcards. It also came in handy to store the buttons some place safe before their journey...Okay, making something is nice but receiving something really cute in the mail is even nicer! Katie's part of the swap reached me on Saturday and I couldn't believe my luck when I saw she had chosen little red riding hood fabric for her projects and the buttons (insert squeal here). Cute!So I got super cute buttons, a wrist warmer AND a pouch in a super nicely wrapped little package which I unfortunately couldn't take a picture of because I was way too nosey.Thank you sooo much, Katie!!!

Nobody told me!

For some reason I thought carving stamps would be easy. Well, it's not! Or at least not for me. I was so exited to try it and now I'm a little disappointed. Oh well, I need some more practice I guess! Does anyboy know a site with some helpful tips? Like for example how to do a perfect circle?

Quick, easy and GOOD!

That's what these quesadillas are! I found the recipe here at Lindyloo's. Since I didn't have any salsa or hot sauce I used some vegan Sour Supreme from Tofutti instead and spiced up my bean mix a bit.Definitely another favorite from Lindloo. I think it comes right after the Delectable Plunkett Burritos which are the best burritos ever (and the recipe can be found right underneath the quesadilla one). Unfortunately they take quite a bit of time in the making... or I'd have them every day!

Summer is back!

I'm so glad it is and I hope it stays here for a while! I love blue skies! It doesn't even have to be hot... just a little sunshine is all I need.I almost forgot that I meant to show you the wedding announcements: I bought all the supplies for the cards at Paper Source in San Francisco. It's amazing how many color coordinated stuff they have! I had a hard time choosing the perfect one.

I had a lot of help from Johanna with making them and am really pleased how they turned out. The monogram was done by Lucky Designs. I like it a lot and am thinking about getting it turned into a rubber stamp (just our names and the dots).C and me decided to add a cd with some of our road trip music after we saw something similar in Martha Stewart's wedding issue. C had the idea of using LightScribe to do the cover. On their homepage I found a printable mailer which I used as a template for the cd cases. Then it was back to Martha for the ribbon and label idea.
My favorite song from the cd right now would be Ingrid Michaelson with The Way I Am:

And while you are at it, please listen to another song of hers... Far away... It's awesome as well!

A little red!

Look at all the goodies I scored at Charlotta's! Actually the picture does not show all I bought and there was also a lot more I would have wanted! I could say I restricted myself because I'm a good girl but the truth is, it was so crowded that day that I FORGOT some of the things I wanted since I wanted to rush it. Umh, good thing is Johanna wants to go to Charlotta's soon and I'll definitely accompany here. Oh wait! That could be the bad thing as well...No, it's not! I do NEED some robot fabric and some Michael Miller fabric too. Not to mention some more ribbon! Everybody NEEDS ribbon, right?

And guess what! I'm not only buying fabric... No, I'm also making stuff with it! Yes, it's true. I've been crafting. Unfortunately I can't show it to you yet because it's for the fabric button swap on little red caboose. I mailed my little package off today and will show you the contents as soon as my partner received them.

Las Vegas, NV - Victorville, CA - L.A., CA

Day 23:
Woke up to lots of sunshine, couldn't wait to get to back on the road. Drove along some pretty roads all the way to Death Valley N.P., enjoyed the heat until we took a short walk through the sand dunes and I thought my feet were on fire, were really thankful for our air condition inside the car. Drove to the visitor centor, watched the movie and looked at the exibiton, explored the park a bit more (definitely a favorite now!).Left in the late afternoon to get to Las Vegas, saw some casino road signs just minutes later and thought it was like at the beginning of our trip (got kind of sad 'cause that wasn't the case).Reached Vegas, checked into The Signature at MGM (the best hotel on our trip - the most expensive too), said good bye to our road trip.Went gambling and wished we didn't afterwards.

Day 24:
Stayed in our hotel room until check-out time, went shopping for the last time, had lunch at a wonderful Indian restaurant, bought tons of vegan donuts, left Vegas, drove to Victorville, checked into a hotel for the last time.

Day 25:
Packed our suitcases (which took forever), cleaned out the car, drove to L.A., returned our rental car, went to the airport, had to wait quite a while, flew back home!