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| I wish this is what I looked like when blogging & commenting... |
I just want my little blogging corner to look like one of these pins.
Anyone else?
What Does Your Workspace Look Like?
Anyone else?
Anyone else?
Friday Finds
Whoops! Looks like I almost forgot about my pledge to post once a week! Luckily I already had this one started so I could add some lovely finds that I thought you might enjoy as well.
I came across a lot of green living, bicycle transportation, and living intentionally small this week. I posted a lot of my favorites on twitter.
On top of that, I finally responded to an email from Bicycle City which was in response to my request for more info. First time I actually heard from someone (I've been following them since 2007) and I was tickled to death!!
My husband taught me how to use Pocket to save articles for later reading instead of leaving 15 tabs open on my browser (and thus slowing my browsing to a CRAWL....).
After "meeting" Sarah through Liesl's 3 Question interview series, I proceeded to pin about a dozen recipes from her blog: The Vanilla Bean Blog. One of which I have already tried my hand at.
This board has some great eye candy for contemplating yarn storage as we continue to plan our addition (and my little etsy corner).
This might be a great way to use up my wool scraps & also allow us to stop buying dryer sheets.
And I've been doing a lot of swagbucks these last two weeks to reach my daily goal for the whole month to get a bonus 300 points. Does anyone else use swagbucks? Once I got the hang of it, it has been a great background addition to my daily computer use to earn a few giftcards toward fun things :) We are currently saving for Home Depot giftcards for home improvement projects.
What did you find worthwhile this week?
Apps I Use for Selling on Etsy
Along the same lines as Blogging Tools, I found myself getting into tools/sites that I use for sales so I broke that off into this post:
Etsy
Even as I am starting to branch out into physical booth for sales (and possibly consignment??) I still like to have Etsy as a landing page & sample of work available by me.Square Up
Square has been a great tool for accepting credit payments in person plus generating a neat, digital sales receipt for anyone requesting one.*Edit: Now that I have a Samsung Galaxy S5, the Square card reader works like a charm!*
Maybe not so surprisingly, I have noticed that some have even used my Facebook page as a way to contact me via message instead of my email. This is how I was invited to join the Merchant's Landing Arts & Craft Show!
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| Free "scrap" bracelets |
Freebies
Speaking of physical shows, I've also found that a little freebie is a great draw to your table. I like to crochet long leftover scraps of cotton yarn into bracelets which I offer for free to whomever. I find it is a great way to strike up a conversation with anyone "brave enough" to pick out a free bracelet. :)PDF Compressor
Once I started selling PDF patterns, I needed a compressor for the large image-heavy files that are my pattern's signature. And not only do I want to make friends wait hours to download a large file, but Etsy does not allow pattern files greater than 20mb. So needing a solution, I found Chrome's free PDF compressor + was instantly impressed with not only it's ability to crunch the size of my recent pattern from 38mb to 1.35! But it even preserved the quality of the crisp images! Sold!Wholesale
So far I haven't branched out into wholesaling (purchasing or selling) but it has crossed my mind several times. Does anyone have any wholesale experience?Spread the Word
And as always, word of mouth through supportive friends and family members has helped generate a fair handful of sales this past holiday season. Plus a few times when asked what do I do for a living (a question that always makes me cringe), I mention that I am a knit/crochet instructor as well as an Etsy shop owner. I like to show pictures of what I make via my smartphone (images taken directly with my phone as well as pulling up my Etsy shop on my phone) and hand them a business card, encouraging them to explore my shop more when they are home. I don't know how well it works, but I figure it can't hurt, right?I'd love to hear what tools you use for "pedaling your wares" :) If you already have a post about it, would you mind pasting a link to it in the comments section? I'd love to read it!
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Stuffed Peppers & Venison Chili
I swear this isn't a food blog, but apparently I've been doing a lot of cooking & baking lately and they are all new recipes that I just have to share! Plus I figured most of you might be interested to try some of these recipes as I always love reading yours.
Last week I made, for the second time, stuffed peppers from a pin (my first time actually using Pinterest to cook! I have more recipes pinned here). Both Dan & I LOVED how the stuffing turned out so well, that we made it again, even though we didn't have bell peppers to stuff, haha. It makes a great tortilla chip dip as well as a topping over rice! Plus the ground turkey helps get my protein numbers up and keep my carbs down. And you can throw in whatever veggies you have on hand, which makes this a great recipe for cleaning out the fridge! ;-)
Pepper Stuffing
1 lb. ground turkey, browned
1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (15oz) beans, drained & rinsed (I used Great Northern Beans)
1/2 bag frozen corn (you could probably throw the whole bag in, I was saving half for the chili, below)
1/2 bell pepper, chopped (I sliced the other half for eating with hummus)
1/4 c diced onion
I didn't measure out my seasonings, just started sprinkling them on. Here is what I used:
chili powder
cumin
Mrs. Dash's Chipotle seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
1. If you are planning to cook rice, start it first. 1 cup rice to 2 cups water.
2. Brown the turkey in a large skillet. Drain and return to low heat. Stir in tomatoes, beans, corn, bell pepper, & onion. Add seasonings. Allow to simmer until onions become translucent and everything is heated through.
Serve over or mixed with rice, top with Mexican cheese, and scoop with tortilla chips. Or maybe make a plate of tortilla chips on the bottom and spoon the stuffing on top, then sprinkle with cheese and microwave for 30-60 seconds to melt the cheese. Yummy goodness!
This makes quite a few servings so we normally divy it up into small glass-lock containers to be used for packed lunches (rice & cheese are warmed up & added at serving time).
My other new recipe is Venison Chili which we made in the Crock pot. I apologize I didn't get any pictures of this one. My husband gobbled it up within 2 days!
2 lb. ground venison, browned
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes
1 bag of frozen corn (I ended up using 1 1/2 bags)
1 can (15 oz) of beans, drained & rinsed
1 glove of garlic, minced
1 can (6oz) of tomato paste + 24oz of water thoroughly mixed
*All seasonings are approximate as they were added at the beginning, sparingly, and more was added toward the end of cooking time by my hubby. So I recommend using these amounts as jumping off points and just season to taste.*
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp red cayenne
2 tsp basil
salt & pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning
1. Brown venison.
2. Mix tomato paste & water in a separate pot.
3. In the crockpot combine all ingredients. Add seasonings and stir everything together.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Serve with crackers.
Let me know how you like these recipes. What variations did you make? I'd love to hear about them!
Last week I made, for the second time, stuffed peppers from a pin (my first time actually using Pinterest to cook! I have more recipes pinned here). Both Dan & I LOVED how the stuffing turned out so well, that we made it again, even though we didn't have bell peppers to stuff, haha. It makes a great tortilla chip dip as well as a topping over rice! Plus the ground turkey helps get my protein numbers up and keep my carbs down. And you can throw in whatever veggies you have on hand, which makes this a great recipe for cleaning out the fridge! ;-)
Pepper Stuffing
1 lb. ground turkey, browned
1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes
1 can (15oz) beans, drained & rinsed (I used Great Northern Beans)
1/2 bag frozen corn (you could probably throw the whole bag in, I was saving half for the chili, below)
1/2 bell pepper, chopped (I sliced the other half for eating with hummus)
1/4 c diced onion
I didn't measure out my seasonings, just started sprinkling them on. Here is what I used:
chili powder
cumin
Mrs. Dash's Chipotle seasoning
salt & pepper to taste
1. If you are planning to cook rice, start it first. 1 cup rice to 2 cups water.
2. Brown the turkey in a large skillet. Drain and return to low heat. Stir in tomatoes, beans, corn, bell pepper, & onion. Add seasonings. Allow to simmer until onions become translucent and everything is heated through.
Serve over or mixed with rice, top with Mexican cheese, and scoop with tortilla chips. Or maybe make a plate of tortilla chips on the bottom and spoon the stuffing on top, then sprinkle with cheese and microwave for 30-60 seconds to melt the cheese. Yummy goodness!
This makes quite a few servings so we normally divy it up into small glass-lock containers to be used for packed lunches (rice & cheese are warmed up & added at serving time).
My other new recipe is Venison Chili which we made in the Crock pot. I apologize I didn't get any pictures of this one. My husband gobbled it up within 2 days!
2 lb. ground venison, browned
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes
1 bag of frozen corn (I ended up using 1 1/2 bags)
1 can (15 oz) of beans, drained & rinsed
1 glove of garlic, minced
1 can (6oz) of tomato paste + 24oz of water thoroughly mixed
*All seasonings are approximate as they were added at the beginning, sparingly, and more was added toward the end of cooking time by my hubby. So I recommend using these amounts as jumping off points and just season to taste.*
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp red cayenne
2 tsp basil
salt & pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
Mrs. Dash Chipotle seasoning
1. Brown venison.
2. Mix tomato paste & water in a separate pot.
3. In the crockpot combine all ingredients. Add seasonings and stir everything together.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
Serve with crackers.
Let me know how you like these recipes. What variations did you make? I'd love to hear about them!
Goals for 2013 - New Items
Continuing my goals for 2013, I have a few new items I'd love to add to the shop:
Longies & short-leg soakers (What do you think about these? Do you think they would sell well? Do you know someone looking for these?)
More Baby Blankets/ Lap Blankets. Maybe even some Chevron that's been taking off on Pinterest and in Etsy shops.
And then there's this crocheted flower bouquet that has me scratching my head...
Is there something else you'd like to see? Please post it in the comments :)
Future Projects on My Wish List
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| Striped Tunic Dress |
This [seamless!] pattern is for sale on Etsy!
... wouldn't this be a cute summer dress?
And the little feminine, hem details in this dress....
Definitely have to try making this hat in my size.
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| Really pretty collar |
More Fun Finds
Since I haven't had a whole lot to blog about (at least, not a lot with pictures) here are some more fun finds from yesterday.
Thanks to LieslMade, I've finally decided to get on Pinterest. A few people have recommended it to me but until last week, I hadn't really wanted to join *another* website. But I love the idea of being able to save one's favorites to a wall in a pretty collage of pictures :) So I guess I'll have to give it a try.
While waiting for my "invite" to join, I've bookmarked a few pictures I'll be "pinning" first.
Like this embroidery how-to and this embroidered shirt. I think this would be fun to do to some of my current shirts to update them.
Also this granny square afghan goes along with the other one I bookmarked.
And this is an interesting off-shoulder knitted sweater. I couldn't seem to find a good link to its original (if there was a pattern), but maybe it'll find me down the road.
I need to find a simple pattern to make this sweater. What a classic!
Isn't it terrible that I'm already looking at children's clothes? Or rather, patterns.
While waiting for my "invite" to join, I've bookmarked a few pictures I'll be "pinning" first.
Like this embroidery how-to and this embroidered shirt. I think this would be fun to do to some of my current shirts to update them.
Also this granny square afghan goes along with the other one I bookmarked.
And this is an interesting off-shoulder knitted sweater. I couldn't seem to find a good link to its original (if there was a pattern), but maybe it'll find me down the road.