Stuff I Like. Sewing Patterns

Today I'm featuring some great sewing patterns found on Etsy. Go and check them out!

I think a couple of those might end up in my shopping cart in the next few days. Which one is your favorite?

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade christynelson.etsy.com

Stuff I Like. Aprons

It was almost unanimous when I asked the facebook fans what they wanted to see this month. APRONS! Because of my back, I haven't been able to craft as much as I might like. So, while I'd love to be making some aprons and giving you some great tutorials, I've got to heal. Instead I'll show you these great aprons that other crafters have made! These are all gorgeous and available for purchase on etsy.

This etsy mini has been replaced with a screen shot.

Stuff I Like. Cross Stitch Patterns on Etsy

I've been thinking a lot about cross stitch lately. I have a lot of embroidery floss and I've always enjoyed doing cross stitch. The problem? It is difficult to find cool, up to date patterns. I've been on the lookout for a while for some modern cross stitch patterns and have several in my etsy favorites now so I thought I'd share!

This etsy mini has been replaced with a screen shot.

Make. Knitted Camera Cozy

One of the items I won at BlogHer was a Nikon Coolpix S60 signed by Ashton Kutcher.  It is a pretty neat camera.  My Canon S5 (I love this camera!) will still be my main camera but sometimes it is too big to lug around to events or family outings.   I had been looking for a good point and shoot to keep in my purse.  Needless to say, I was super excited to hear that I won this one! 

It didn't come with a case so I decided to knit one up for it at knitting group last night.  I didn't use a pattern.  I just cast on (around 40 stitches) on my double pointed needles and started working in the round.  After about 4 rows, I made a row of eyelets (k1, yo, k2 tog) so I could have it function as a drawstring bag.  When I got to the end I bound off and seamed it up using the mattress stitch. 

The yarn is a handspun that was purchased off of Etsy.  Oobbles bought this yarn for me and I absolutely love it.  I can't find the seller anymore but it is a handspun, hand dyed merino and is great to work with.     Now that I have this cozy I can toss my camera in my bag and not worry about it getting scratched! 

If you're interested in learning how to knit, why not check out my knitting school?  There are 6 lessons.  Scroll down to the bottom of the page to start with lesson one. 

The Benefits of Joining a Craft Group

I met Lisa when I formed the Lincoln Handmade Etsy Team.  She is such a great addition to the group and does an excellent job of keeping us motivated and on task.  She takes her role of dictator very seriously.  Lisa is the person behind Oobbles. 

Thinking of joining a craft group?  Have you seen all the teams on etsy?  They have hundreds!  Some are grouped by location and meet in person, some are grouped by subject/craft and meet only virtually.  I am a lucky member of two such groups- Etsy Hookers and Lincoln Handmade.

I joined Etsy Hookers first, right at the beginning of my sojourn with etsy.  My main craft is crochet and so I went looking for a crochet team!  Etsy Hookers is great because they take their team seriously.  They maintain a ning forum, a group blog, and a flickr pool.  In addition to all of that, they have regular activities like chat and promotion threads, crochet contests and a hooker of the month.  I love that this group is so active and has so many different ways in which to participate.  They are a really nice group of people and are always willing to help out when you have a question or just want to chat.

There are many benefits to being a member of a large virtual team- communion with like minded folks- the power of a big team for promotions and more.  But one thing they usually lack is the ability to meet in person.  That was a big reason I joined Lincoln Handmade when it formed in 2008.  Lincoln Handmade is a group that is made up of many different personalities and crafts and what binds us together is our love of creating (and I think our love of talking!).  We have a regular monthly meeting where we get together to discuss our etsy shops, new crafts we're working on, and fun get togethers we'd like to have in the future.  We've already had some great ones, as you can see from the photos!   If you'd like to see more, check out our flickr pool or our new facebook page!

Guest Bloggers and Craft Challenges.

I'll be at BlogHer and the Craft and Hobby Association Trade Show over the next several days.  To keep you all occupied, I've got several guest bloggers lined up with some really great tutorials and guest posts!

Before I go I wanted to leave you with some reminders.

• Christy's Craft Challenge is back on!  I enjoyed taking a break this month but I'm ready to get back to craft challenges.  You can buy your packets for August (or get a 3 month or 1 year subscription!) at my etsy shop. 
• You have until August 2nd to purchase the packet for that month.
• The challenge packets will be sent out by August 5th.

Want to keep up to date with what is happening at BlogHer and the CHA trade show? 

Follow me on Twitter or join my Facebook Fan Page. 

I'll have some special goodies available just for my facebook fans.  You won't want to miss out! 

Learn. How to Make Shrinky Dink Logo Charms

I shamelessly stole this idea from Crafterella. She made some to use as tags on her etsy shop items and I loved them! I asked her how to make them and if I could share the tutorial with all of you.

I decided to make these charms to put on some friendship bracelets I'm planning on handing out at BlogHer. Will you be there? Do you want a bracelet? I'm hoping to have about 100 to give away. We'll see how long my hands hold up.

Supplies:

• Shrinky dink plastic
• inkjet printer
• paper punches

The first thing I did was put my logo in a word processing document and made it the size I wanted (just over 1 1/2"). I repeated the design as many times as I could over the page.

You'll also want your picture to be reversed. I did this by going into the tools section and choosing "rotate". One of the choices is flip horizontally. That's what you want to do.

Before you print, change the properties on your printer. You want to use the "draft" option. It uses less ink and will prevent smudging.

Be sure to print on the "fuzzy" side of the plastic.

Next you'll want to punch out your circles. I used a 1 3/4" circle punch. Then I used a 1/16th" punch for the small hole on top.

Follow the instructions on the shrinky dink package for baking. Mine went into a 325 degree oven for about 90 seconds.

Here you can see a before and after. They shrink up rather nicely and ended up being about the size of a thumbnail.

I really love the way they turned out and I can't wait to pass out the bracelets at BlogHer!

Hope to see you there!

Learn. How to Promote Your Etsy Items via Social Networks.

Etsy is making it even easier to promote your favorite items!  They have added page tools on each item.

On this screenshot you can see it in the bottom right of the screen. 

I actually own these rings and Lynette was the one that reminded me of this feature today! 

Using the page tools you can easily email a listing and even subscribe to the shop feed.  If you need a little refresher course on how to subscribe to feeds, check out the post I did on subscribing and facebook fan pages. 

What I want to focus on today is the Bookmark and share button.  You can find these buttons all over the place.  In fact, at the end of each of my posts there is a bookmark button.  If you click on it, it gives you a number of options on how you can share these posts with others.  At etsy, it does the exact same thing. 

If you click on the button, this is what shows up.  If you're on Facebook, you can post an interesting item right to your wall.  You can do the same thing with twitter. 

Be careful.  Don't do this too much with your own items!  Find things you love from others and promote them every once in a while, too!  Don't forget to let them know.  Every etsy seller loves to hear from someone that admires their work. 

What are you waiting for?  Go and promote someone's handiwork today. 

June Craft Challenge Reminder

We've got until tomorrow night to get in your craft challenge entries.  I'm busy working on mine as I write this!  And by busy, I mean *thinking* about working on it.  I'm on a little vacation this week and I brought the supplies with me. 

Our sponsor is Laundry Tree.  Trust me, you want to win this!  Get crafting!

Want to participate in August?  Packets are available now at my etsy shop.

Stuff I Like. Pounce on Etsy

This week I'm doing something a little different with Stuff I Like. I decided to feature items from etsy sellers that have yet to make a sale. Sometimes it is hard to get your shop and products noticed. I found all of these items using the Pounce feature at etsy. Find something you like and I'm sure you'll make this seller's day by being their very first etsy sale!

 

This etsy mini has been replaced with a screen shot.

 

Stuff I Like. Chicks Who Click

Today I am at a conference in Kansas City. It is Chicks Who Click and I just happen to be one of the presenters. This week's etsy features were inspired by Chicks Who Click! Hope you like them.

Plus, how cute is the little chick pirate? Love it.

This etsy mini has since been replaced with a screenshot.

Stuff I Like. Travel Related Items from Etsy

Summer is almost here and I'm already in vacation mode.  I love traveling and I was thinking I could share some things that might make your summer trips a little more enjoyable and carefree. 

My favorite find?  A collapsible hula hoop.  Instant fun on the go! 

This etsy mini has since been replaced with a screen shot.

 

Stuff I like. Recycled Items

For the past few weeks I've been featuring an etsy mini of some of my favorites. It has been so much fun discovering new items that I'm going to make it a regular feature on Saturday. If you make any items you think I'd like, let me know about them! They might just make it into one of my features.

This week I was inspired by Earth Day. These items are either made from eco-friendly materials, are recycled (or "upcycled"), or are items that help us live a little "greener". Enjoy!

This etsy mini has been replaced with a screen shot.

Craft Night with the Lincoln Handmade Team

I'm a member of our local etsy team, Lincoln Handmade.  Last night we all got together at my house for a craft night.  We spent most of the evening using the Big Kick, eating, and chatting.   You can read more about it at the Lincoln Handmade blog.  

The Big Kick was the hit of the evening.  I bought mine on sale a couple of months ago at Joann. It is a die cutting machine.  It is great to use with paper, fabric, chipboard, felt, and whatever else you can run through it.   You can make appliques like a dream!  TIP: add your heat n bond to the fabric BEFORE you run it through the machine.  Then you have a ready to iron on shape!

The dies can be purchased at craft stores.  I have a few that are exclusive to Stampin' UP that match their stamp sets.  The dies can get a little expensive.  Most run around $15.  Make sure to use your craft store coupons!  Alphabet and other specialty dies can cost over $100.  We were talking about maybe charging dues for our team and investing in some of these more expensive tools for the good of the group.

This is actually a pretty good price for the Big Kick if you're interested.  Do you have one already?  What are some of your favorite dies?

April Craft Challenge Deadline

image courtesy of Spool {} via flickr

Can you believe that it is almost time to have your April craft challenge completed?  Have you even started?  If you haven't, don't worry.  You still have a few more days.  The deadline is Wednesday, April 22nd.   Email the picture you'd like to include for voting or you can go ahead and upload it to the Flickr group.  If you blog about the challenge, email me the link and you'll be included in the drawing for the free month. 

The winner this month will win a great stamping bundle (value over $60!) from Schlosser Designs.  I'm also pleased to announce that the sponsor for next month's challenge will be the Lincoln Handmade Etsy Team.  I'm a part of this great local group and they are getting together a bundle of their handmade products for a mega-awesome basket for the winner.  You won't want to miss out!  May craft challenge packets will be available for sale until April 27th.  This is a little earlier than normal.  I need to do this so I can be sure to get all of the packets ready to mail by May 1st. 

Did you know I have 3, 6, and 12 month subscriptions available?  Have a crafty mom?  What a great Mother's Day gift!  Are you a crafty mom?  Send your husband/kids the link.  I know this is kind of sounding like an infomercial and I might be a bit biased, but I think they make a great gift for yourself or someone else.  You will always be able to purchase them month by month, but if you purchase a subscription, you get a bit of a discount. 

Have no idea what I'm talking about?  Check out the Craft Challenge FAQs. 

Stuff I Like. Follow the Yellow Brick Road

I'm in Kansas City today taking my kids to see the Wizard of Oz exhibit at the Crown Center. Here are some favorites from Etsy inspired by the Wizard of Oz.

This is now a screen shot of the original etsy mini I had published.  One of the items sold before I had a chance to print the screen so the bottom right hand corner item is not original to this post. 

Birthday Wishes

It's my birthday today. To celebrate, I thought I'd share some of my favorites from Etsy. These are all related to birthdays and/or wishes. I'm planning on having a most excellent day. I hope you all do as well!

The Etsy Mini I had posted here has since expired so here is a screen shot of my picks.

Purses By Ashley

Just over a month ago, I sent out a general message to my local etsy group to see if anyone was interested in making me a custom laptop bag. I wanted something big enough for my laptop, camera, and all my other purse items. I also wanted to have that pleated pocket on the front.

Ashley, from Purses by Ashley, was up for the challenge. I am already a fan of her work. I featured her Lynley bag on my Wishpot and love her style.

I picked out the fabric and she worked on the design. It was ready in just a few short weeks! I can't even begin to tell you how pleased I am about this bag. It fits everything I need and is very comfortable to carry.

There are pockets for my phone, Tide to Go pen (a must-have for any mom or busty gal, in my opinion!), Flip camera, and whatever else I can think of. There are three sections. The middle section is padded for my laptop. She included a wristlet, too! That was so convenient to have at the Mom 2.0 Summit when I didn't need my laptop but wanted to carry around some cash and business cards. You can be sure I'll be carrying this bag around at BlogHer, too!

If you are in the market for a laptop bag (or any bag, for that matter), please consider Ashley. I couldn't be happier and she is taking custom orders now!

Win a 3 Month Subscription to Christy's Craft Challenge

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! CONGRATS TO GINNY!

Today is the start of our week-long giveaway celebration for the Lincoln Handmade Etsy Team. We are close to 40 members strong here in our small community and a handful of us are participating in this event.

I'm kicking things off with the first giveaway of the week...a 3 month subscription to Christy's Craft Challenge. If you are new to the site and haven't heard about my craft challenge, I have a frequently asked question page that explains the details.

I started selling on etsy a few years ago in another shop but once I started my craft challenge, I realized that I didn't have enough hours in the day to dedicate myself to both. Combining crafting with competition was a no brainer for me--as I love them both!

Please take a moment to check out my new offerings at my etsy shop. I now have 3 month, 6 month, and year long subscriptions to the challenges available. Purchasing them in advance allows me to offer a bit of a discount.

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment with your email or other contact information (twitter id is fine). I will draw a winner on March 18th. Good luck!

Lincoln Handmade Etsy Team Promotional Giveaways

Starting on Monday, the Lincoln Handmade Etsy Team will be hosting a week of giveaways. As a founding member of the team, I'm so pleased to be taking part! Make sure to take a look at the shops of those that are participating and follow us around during the week to win some great handmade items. I'm going to be giving away a 3 month subscription to Christy's Craft Challenge starting on Monday.