New Business Cards

Things are finally starting to come together for the craft show I'll be doing in December. I'm finally starting to feel like I'll have enough items to have a well stocked booth, but I still have a ton of sewing to do. I've figured out that I need to get in a solid three hours of sewing each day to meet my goals. Yeah, I went all organized with it and made a spread sheet and everything. I'll tell ya what though, it's been one of the best things I've done yet. It has really kept me on track with production. But I digress.

The other best thing I did? Ordering business cards instead of trying to go all DIY like I usually do. I decided to cut myself a break and ordered them from Overnight Prints. And let me tell ya, they are gorgeous!

See? I told you they were pretty. :) I designed them myself with my handy-dandy Photoshop Elements software and uploaded them right to their site. I ordered premium cards with UV coating to make them nice and shiny. And shiny they are. I feel like such a big girl now!

I'll be back in a few days to share all kinds of yummy photos of my stock. Hope you're having a great week!

Construction Sale

Since the very first day I opened my etsy shop I've struggled with perfecting my photos and coming up with something unique that looks professional and compliments my products well. While I was decently happy with my outdoor photos, the background poses a problem for the winter months. I was looking for something that was easy to edit, works well with all of the different colored fabrics that I use and had a bit of an organic feel.

Well, I finally figured out some of the functions on my camera, grabbed some gray poster board and threw in some black stone that I had on hand and voila! I finally have a background that I can use year round that meets all of my requirements. I like that the background is less distracting now and that they have a more crisp look. I think they turned out quite nice, no?


Since a lot of the items in my shop are made to order, it's going to take quite some time to update all of the pictures. And since my shop will look a bit disorganized for a while I decided to have a construction sale for as long as it takes me to finish updating. Visit my shop and reference the shop announcement at the top of the page for details on the sale.

New Bag

My apologies for the silence lately. I've been keeping myself quite busy with the to do list that I mentioned here. I'm happy to say that I checked off everything on the list except the nursing cover and maybe a diaper or two and even found time to make a few new things for my etsy shop! I'm feeling quite accomplished at the moment and now all I need to do is have a baby (I'm 3 days past due at this point if anyone is wondering.)

Anyway, I just finished my diaper bag today and thought I would share the pics. It didn't turn out exactly how I wanted because I'm a geometry flunky and boxed the corners too big. It's smaller than I had hoped because of that, but I think it will do just fine - for short trips at least. I didn't add any pockets on the inside because I'm the type to just toss stuff in, but I did add a zippered pocket on the outside to keep my keys, wallet and cell phone accessible.

Ok, enough blabbering, here it is:

It measures 8.5 inches wide, 11 inches tall and 5 inches deep. I really wanted it to be wider than it is tall, but that's all due to the boxed corners that were only supposed to be about 3.5 inches deep - oops!) I could have done a much better job ironing too, but I was just to excited to show you, so I put that off for later. I'd love to hear what you think. I hope to have something similar in my shop once I get all of the math figured out!

It's Official!

My long awaited shop opening has finally arrived! I'm so happy to announce that I have officially started stocking my shop on etsy and am open for business. Of course, you may have already noticed that by my etsy mini in the side bar!

I've been slowly adding new items each day and once I have a few pages of inventory listed I'll be having a grand opening sale. I'll be sure to post about it when I'm ready to have the sale, so be sure to check back! As for now, I'd love it if you'd stop by the shop and show some love. As always, comments and suggestions are welcome!

Keychain Obsession

Hello, my name is Rhyah and I am an addict...to keychains, that is! It seems that I have developed a weird obsession with anything that can be attached to my keys or bag lately to make carrying things more convenient.


I jumped on the key fob band wagon a while back to make it easier to keep my keys accessible while carrying my toddler, her diaper bag, my wallet and anything else that might join us on our daily journeys. Then, since I have yet to design a handbag for myself, thus carrying my wallet in hand, I designed a card wallet that could be attached to my keys.

Now, with the recent swine flu scares, I decided that when I leave my house I need to be armed with hand sanitizer. What better way to keep it within reach than attaching to to a swivel hook so, yep, you guessed it, it can be attached to my keys (or bag whenever I get around to designing one.)

I think I may have a problem, and though attaching one more thing to my key ring is tempting, I think this one will hang from my bag (again, once I get around to making one) so I don't look quite so obsessed when I go out!

Snappy Little Card Wallets

I'm so excited to show you the newest addition to my inventory! These little card wallets are so fun to make, and equally as fun to carry. They're just perfect for carrying business cards or traveling light with just an ID and credit cards. I'm getting so anxious to open up shop that I can hardly stand it. Hopefully I'll be able to announce my grand opening in the next week or two, so keep your eyes peeled for great deals!

equipped with a key ring, these little wallets are super convenient to carry

measuring 4.25 x 2.5 they're the perfect size to carry a stack of business card and/or IDs and credit cards


Even better, they're made with fun designer fabrics to brighten up your day!

Business Card Poll

As I gear up for my grand opening I've been finalizing artwork, patterns, designs, etc. The one thing I'm having a hard time deciding on is my business card design. So I thought I'd open up a poll to see which one you like best to help me decide on the final design. If you feel so inclined, please enter your vote in the poll on the right. I would greatly appreciate your vote and any comments you may have on any of the designs.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

New Design

I'm so excited to show you the newest design that I will be adding to the inventory in my new shop once it's open (hopefully in just a few weeks.) This is my rendition of the fold-over clutch that is gaining popularity. Fast.



This is not my favorite fabric since it was just a prototype, but I'm in L.O.V.E.! It's approximately 9 inches wide by 5 inches tall folded, has a flat bottom so it will stand on its own and closes with a magnetic snap. Quick, easy, to the point. Just enough room for the essentials for a night on the town or a casual day out and about.

I need an excuse!

I came across this pretty little necklace a few days ago and haven't been able to get it out of my head. I'm trying to come up with a reason to buy it and figure out what I would have written on it.


The artist designed it to have your child's name imprinted on it if you have only one child, but as you know, I'm expecting number two, so that doesn't apply to me. I've thought of maybe putting my wedding date on it, or maybe an inspirational word or even simply my name. I do need want an excuse to purchase it though, because it's been calling to me since I first laid eyes on it!

What have you found lately that you just can't get out of your mind and need and excuse to buy?

A few things I've been working on

I've been sewing my fingers to the bone lately making these cute little travel tissue cozies and key fobs. I plan on offering both of these as free gifts with purchases for my grand opening sale in my new shop, which will hopefully take place sometime this spring. In the meantime, if you're interested in making a tissue cozy of your own, check out this tutorial. Mine are a tad bit different though, as there are no raw edges or loose flaps anywhere. I can't give away all of my secrets! :)

Finally!

After a few failed projects this week, including a zippered pouch that I forgot to add interfacing to and a wallet gone wrong, I finally completed a successful project. I've been in need of a new wallet for quite a while now, so I decided that I would draft a new one, suitable to be sold in my new shop.

It took me all day to draft the pattern, cut out the pieces and put it all together , but I think it turned out great for my first try! It has a few flaws that will need to be worked out before I can offer it in my new shop. For instance, the border for the license pocket needs to be wider, and the strap should be top stitched, along with some other minor details, but overall I'm extremely happy with the way it turned out and can't wait to get out and show it off!

New shop

Well, the new shop is moving from a figment of my imagination to reality. I just finished making my new banner, which I am really, really happy with. I had Jen over at Studio71 create the papaya graphics, and I did the rest. I still have a long way to go before I can begin stocking the shop, but I'm well on my way. I still have a little tweaking to do, like with the photos of my work though. I haven't taken enough photos yet, which is why there are two pictures of the same bag. I'm really happy with the overall design though. I would love to hear what you think about it!

CPSC

Due to the new CPSC law that will go into effect on Feb 10th, I'm being forced to close my shop. I simply cannot afford the lab fees required to comply with this ridiculously vague law. I have marked every single item down by 50% to get rid of inventory before Feb 10th. Everything else will be either donated to Children's Memorial Hospital or given as gifts to friends and family. If you have a love for handmade children's products like I do, now is the time to buy, because come Feb 10th they're going to be very hard to find. Don't worry though, I will be opening another shop in the near furture and will be sure to let you know when that happens. Here are some things from my shop to give you and idea of what I make:

Me Time

After a very challenging day with my daughter yesterday, Hubby decided to give me a break today and take her to visit her Baba (Serbian for Grandma) without me. I planned on getting a lot of sewing done today to start building inventory for a new etsy shop, since I am having to close Babytopia. The new shop will focus on bags, pouches and accessories to begin, and hopefully branch out to other crafts later on.

I decided that my first project for the day would be a vinyl lined cosmetic bag. With the mere thought of sewing with vinyl, the rest of my sewing projects for the day flew out the window! It was definitely not the easiest material to work with. After much grumbling and many ripped out seams, I ended up with a cute little bag that I am decently proud of. It has a few flaws, since I made it up as I went (I detest working with patterns) but it will work just fine to replace my dingy old cosmetic bag that I've been meaning to replace for quite a while.



So, what do you think? How did I do for my first try?

Window Shopping Wednesday!

I've been wanting to start a weekly theme on my blog for a while now and finally found some time to dedicate to it! So, without further ado I give you Window Shopping Wednesdays, where I will showcase some of the many talented artists on Etsy.  My plan is to have a themed theme, if you will, and for the first ever Window Shopping Wednesday, I decided to put together an etsy mini showcasing jewelry. I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed picking them! :) 

Had to Share

I found the cutest shop on etsy a while back and just ran across it again today. StarShineGallery sells the most adorable sculptures and paintings, and I just had to share my new favorite! Below is her rendition of Mona Lisa, but instead of staying true to the original masterpiece, she decided to clobber her with a cream pie! Priceless! I'm hoping she will offer a print of the original in the near future!