Moving along

This Friday the moving company is coming to pack up all our stuff and move it to Alberta! After a number of interviews I was offered the position of Community Outreach Librarian with the Lethbridge Public Library and so we're leaving the land of unemployment (BC). We're looking forward to moving into our cute little duplex and settling into cowboy country.

Since all of my Etsy stock will be packed away I will be closing the shop for a few days beginning Thursday evening. I think it should be back up by Wed. Sept. 9th but I'll put the details in my shop message.

And the winner is...

Yay! 150 shop hearts! Thank you to all of those who heart my shop!

The winner of this giveaway is randomly generated number #110.


Congratulations to Neil of Beepart You are the winner of a fox button coffee cozy in the colour of your choice!

Time for Another Giveaway!

Wow, that came up fast! Thanks to my brief spot on the front page I'm almost at 150 shop hearts!

I'm only 4 shop hearts away from 150 and when I hit 150 some lucky heart will get a free fox button coffee cozy (your choice of chocolate, rust, crimson, or brick red) I will randomly generate a number between 100 and 150 and let you know who was chosen right here on my blog.

Thank you to all those who heart my shop! I really appreciate it!

Eco Friendly Lunches!

I just purchased these cute reusable snack bags and I can't wait to use them! I love how many there are to choose from on Etsy and they are a great back to school/work must have!

I purchased mine from Cotton Top Quilts but there are other great shops. I also have my eye on a reusable lunch bag from Bebeloosh Mini. I also love the fabric used by Sew Long Ziploc (love the name too!)

Can't wait to start my new job in September so I can use these!

Treasured

One feature I love on Etsy is the treasuries! They are a great way to discover new shops, show appreciation for great crafts and help get more people to notice your own work when you are lucky enough to be included in a treasury. I just wanted to give a shout out to Postscripted for curating a lovely rustic themed treasury featuring my newly listed fox button coffee cozies.

*My laptop screen is small so I couldn't get a screen shot of the full treasury. Make sure you visit the link to get a look at all the beauties featured here!

Link: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c632fa743776d91184fccb7/rustic

Wholesale...What I learned

Well, I finished my wholesale order this week and sent if off. It was my first wholesale experience and I learned a few lessons that I thought I'd share with other newbies.

Lesson #1: Give yourself a lot of time. They'll wait if they value quality handmade items.
I gave an anticipated finish date to the buyer and then my grandmother died and I had a job interview to prepare for. Granted those are unusual circumstances but I also didn't want to be knitting 24/7 and wanted to have a weekend but I couldn't because I had given a date and I hate it when people change dates on me so I didn't want to push it back too much. I did end up having to push the date back a little and it all worked out but I was a bit stressed and it took more time than I thought it would.

Lesson #2: Limitations keep you sane!
This order was for 50 cozies and I've now decided I can't do any more than 40 per order.

Lesson #3: Don't estimate shipping until you have the box packed.
I unfortunately underestimated the size of the package I would need and really under charged for the shipping. I charged $15 based on the box I thought it would fit into and the box was way too small. Silly me it ended up costing $75! I don't know what I was thinking but I definitely wasn't expecting it to cost so much. I also hadn't thought about tracking and insurance because I don't usually ship with either of those but thought I should for this because it was going so far (Australia) and it was such a big order I'd hate to have it lost.

I did work out a good pricing system for the order that I am happy with and will use again. I will definitely do another wholesale order if the opportunity arises but I have learned what not to do again and I'm happy for that experience.