Salt Dough Update

So I finally finished my first round of gift tags! They. Are. Adorable!

Aren't they adorable!? :D 

Cute Cat and Whale!

Anyways, I thought they would be perfect for gift tags for my Etsy store...of which I have yet to sell anything, but if I do I'll have these cute tags to put on my items for customers.

After baking the dough all the way through, I painted two coats of gesso over the tags and let those dry.  The gesso allowed for me to be able to paint/draw on them. :)

I think I might try to do them with stamps next time. 

Happy crafting!

Salt Dough Ornaments!

Do you have a small crafty business that you're trying to start up from home? Are you a decent cook?
Well look no further!

For a while I've been trying to come up with different gift tag ideas for those who buy my products.  I haven't had a sale yet, but when I do I want the tag to be super cute.  I was on Pintrest and stumbled across a salt dough ornament/gift tag idea, which I thought would be perfect for my items!

Recipe:::

2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of salt
1cup of luke-warm water

Mix all three ingredients together in a bowl and roll out of a flat surface. Then cut out the shapes you desire and stamp in patterns/words before you bake them. Bake at 200* F for 2-4 hours (until hard and dry).
Alternatively you can air dry them for 3-5 days until they are completely dry.

If you don't have any stamps or don't want any texture on them, you can also paint them or decorate them after they're done drying/baking.

Mine are currently in the oven and I can't wait until they're done! :D

Happy crafting!

Ideas For My Etsy Store.

I haven't been getting much traffic on my Etsy store's page, so I've been trying to come up with some ideas that might bring me more views and possibly some sales. 

I've been looking around and I've noticed that people are buying the "small and cute" items - that even go up for $30-40! 

I have also done some research on how to obtain more views (i.e. comment on other blogs, take better photos, have more details in the description...). I've already done just about as much as I can do for now with what I have, and so far nada. 

So I've come up with some ideas as to what items to sell in my store. 

1) I've seen lots of owls and foxes around on Etsy, so I'm thinking about some basic fox and owl drawings done on either watercolor paper or cardstock. Hopefully I'd sell them for $10-15 a piece. 

&

2) Definitely going to make some crocheted keyrings/phone charms. I'd love to make cupcakes, cherries, whales, and owls. 

So far, that's about all I can come up with. I'll have to do some more research as to what people are buying out there. 

If anyone has any ideas for things I should make/sell, please let me know in the comments below! 

~Natalie♥

Pintrest Addiction

So I'm not sure if any of you have heard of Pinterest. I'm sure you have, but for those who don't know; it's a site where people link items, ideas, DIY's, and such to their "page" which then others can repost and share with everyone else. It's really a cool site, and I have made quite a number of things off of those posts (such as my T-shirt rug and amigurumi wolf). It's a really cool site.

Anyways, I wanted to share a few of my favorite links with you all.

1) Here's a recipe for salt dough ornaments. You can use them as gift tags as well!
http://www.thecheesethief.com/2011/11/salt-dough-ornaments-and-gift-tags.html

2) I've recently become obsessed with foxes, owls, and red pandas...so this little cross-stitch pattern fills the owl obsession. So cute!
http://kincavelkrosses.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/whoo-hoo-me/

3) Here's an amigurimi pattern for Toothless, the dragon in How To Train Your Dragon - possibly one of my most favorite animated movies thus far. <3
http://sarselgurumi.blogspot.ca/2011/05/toothless-amigurumi-pattern.html

4) Who doesn't love DeviantArt? :D I found this awesome tutorial on how to bind books. I was thinking of making a cute journal, or even a sketch book!
http://jamesdarrow.deviantart.com/art/Bookbinding-Tutorial-292237490?q=boost%3Apopular%20meta%3Aall%20max_age%3A24h&qo=22

5) And last, but not least, this wonderful site. It has every amigurumi pattern you could ever think of! They have knitted and crocheted ones, so it's the best of both worlds! I've made quite a few off of this list. :P
http://freeamigurumipatterns.blogspot.com/
kudos to this site.

Doily Madness!

I've recently started crocheting with small sized hooks and crochet thread.
I decided that trying a doily would be a nice switch from hats and scarves, and also add a homey touch to my new apartment!
And what a good idea it was! I've made two so far (pineapple doilies) and I think I might make another one. Those big spools of thread go a long way too! I've made one 18" doily and another 8" and still have quite a bit left on the spool!

I'm currently making socks for my dad. Using US 2 DPN (double-pointed) needles with sock yarn. Ooh boy is it taking forever. I don't know how sock knitters think this is fun. It's taken me 3 days just to get the leg of one sock done! D: