Do it your own darn self!

Today you can play spot the Lars and Addie item in Better Homes and Garden's Do It Yourself Magazine in their "Best of Show" section of their winter issue.

It feels pretty great to be included amongst a whole gaggle of incredible etsy artists!

Madison Reece Designs kindly listed those she found in the magazine in a recent forum post.

www.Olofsdaughters.etsy.com www.urbanposture.etsy.com www.penguinandfish.etsy.com www.feltedstyle.etsy.com www.handmadepretties.etsy.com www.olive.etsy.com www.msslippers.etsy.com www.greentrikepress.etsy.com www.enhabiten.etsy.com www.wildcardpottery.etsy.com www.mayluk.etsy.com www.happyko.etsy.com www.pinkkiss.etsy.com www.greenwaredesign.etsy.com www.pilotdesign.etsy.com www.yokoo.etsy.com www.bellabeedesigns.etsy.com www.vikki0908.etsy.com www.feltsewgood.etsy.com www.fray.etsy.com www.larsandaddie.etsy.com www.sewzinski.etsy.com www.tickledpinkknits.etsy.com www.foundling.etsy.com www.boiledart.etsy.com www.luckybeepress.etsy.com

Enjoy browsing!

Christmas in July Sale at Lars and Addie!

Lars and Addie is participating in the etsy-wide Christmas in July sale. I'm offering 10% off of all regularly priced items (priced as marked). I've got more fabric bowls listed and more in the hopper....

Stop on by now through July 22nd to enjoy these discounts and check back for daily additions during the weekdays of the sale!

To find other Etsy shops participating in the sale, search "christmas in july," "christmasinjuly," or "cij" on the front page of Etsy.

Thanks and enjoy!

Etsy Sellers: Make a Light Box! Go! Now!

After one too many cloudy days or late evenings meant I had to put off shooting items for my etsy site, I finally relented and decided to make myself a light box. I followed the directions from the strobist blog. Two afternoons later (I ran out of "scrounged" up tissue paper), I had a light box.

So far, it's so good. In fact, it's awesome to have. I don't have to wait for sunny days to take photographs and it looks like I'll spend less time editing in photoshop. The first pictures turned out pretty well.  (I used the wide angle lens for the first few just 'cause that's what was on my camera at the time.) 

I switched to the macros lens for the next two shots. 

Other than resizing to make it easier to download here, I didn't edit these photos at all. I still have to get at least one and maybe two more desk lamps so that I can have the option of  having light on one (as on this picture where you can see the shadows under the sachet), two, or three (to create that "floating" effect) sides.  I'm also really looking forward to playing around with different backgrounds.

I had to make this one pretty big so that I can shoot my bags, but I think I'm going to make another smaller one and remove the bottom of the box so that I can shoot on different surfaces. I'll post here once I make that one. 

I'd Taken a Long Break, but I'm Feelin' the Love

I'd taken a little break from etsy this winter and have gradually gotten back into the swing of all of the creating, posting, listing, and commenting that is etsy. It feels good to be back and feels extra good when other etsians choose your items to be featured in treasuries, blogs, and front pages.

Here are a couple of treasuries that made it to the front page. The first was designed by Birribe, a Swedish etsian with a very electic mix of charming items including jewelry, shawls, and mossbrushes in her shop. The second plum themed one was by Ear Candy Arts who makes bright beaded earrings. I think the last might have been an admin front page...




The next two are currently in the treasury. The first is by Beadin' By the Sea, a Washington State based jeweler with gorgeous pictures of her work.


This one is by beezmiller who creates hilarious, colorful sock creatures in Chicago.


Lastly, Angie of Handmade by Angie, featured Lars and Addie on her blog as part of her regular Friday Feature of etsy sellers. Apparently her muse appreciates the power of alliteration more than mine does!


Thanks, all!

A Little Etsy Love

Mud thrower Amy Esther included the Small Turtle Bag II on her blog, In the Night Kitchen, today. Thanks, Amy!


Julie Garland (no relation to THAT Garland as far as I know) created this treasury which ended up on the front page. Thanks for including the Small Maroon Guitar Bag, Julie!

Bittersweet sale...

I make and post things on etsy because I want to sell them. So I was thrilled when I saw that someone had ordered two bags the other day and happy to send them off for someone else to enjoy and use (rather then them just sitting in my stock box). Sometimes making a sale is still accompanied by this feeling of "Wow, someone really wants to buy something that I made!" But I have to admit that sometimes it's hard to send off items that I really love and put a lot of time, energy, and creativity into. It's a little bittersweet -- especially when shipping off two bags that have gotten as much love as these two.
Like pushing baby birds out of a nest or something. Hopefully it's a feeling I'll get used to. And it makes me want to get working on some new felted bags.

So, good-bye and good luck, green felted bags. Make us proud.

I was on the front page!

.... OK, not me... but one of my bags... the little one with the raindrops.

For those of you not in the know, being on the front page of etsy is kind of a big deal. It drives traffic to your shop and increases views and sales... or at least, that's what the mythology is. In reality, based on my experience and from what other people say, it makes views of items shoot up (it also depends upon what day and what time of day your item is up there.) Many people add your shop and items to their favorites list, but it's hard to say whether it leads to any actual sales. I suppose all exposure is goood exposure. Besides, it's sort of a thrill to see your item on the front page.

This collection was chosen by one of the etsy admin people, HeyMichelle, for a storque article. For many of you, I might as well have just written, "gieoafne a;ruth 488477fna." Sorry.

And also another bag (upper right hand corner) was in a Treasury West called "Chouette" by fleurfatale:

New Ideas = New Stuff on Etsy

Do you ever just take for granted that there's one way to do something and then when you figure out a new, different way to do it, it's a completely life-changing event?

I figured out a new way to sew the quilted coasters that I make for my etsy shop. I used to battle and fight my sewing machine and just thought that was how life was. Turns out, life doesn't have to be that way! I made the tiniest change to how I make them and now I know that we don't have to wake up every morning and yell and shout at our sewing machines while they tear at our seams. I hope everyone plans to drink lots of sweaty beverages on unvarnished wood surfaces, 'cause I'm gonna be makin' a lot of coasters.


I will, perhaps, one day post the tutorial that changed my life, but for the time being I'll post pictures of coasters, which you can also check out here.

Feature Friday: Maybe You Should Die

WARNING: This post has some content that is probably not mom and mother-in-law appropriate. You have both been warned.

So every so often I stumble across something really cool on etsy that I end up buying. In the spirit of mutual promotion and appreciation and encouraging the spending of money and the stimulating of the economy, I'm going to periodically feature a handmade seller.

The first one is Maybe You Should Die. I actually came across their wares at the No Coast Craft Fair here in Minneapolis last year where I took this picture.

They have great cards...
but also great "mean bags" -- bean bags (or actually rice bags) with bitter, funny, mean sayings on them that you can chuck at your friends... or enemies.

Since they're based here in Minneapolis, I doubly had to order something from them. I took a phrase from Tobias in Arrested Development. You can check out the episode here.

It matches our dining room and living room (you can order it in a variety of colors). It's well-made, handy, smells like Jasmine rice, and is fun to throw at your husband when he's being a "douchechill." Check out Maybe You Should Die here.

Also, one more treasury

My small bag with cherries was featured in a treasury! Shout out to Two Left Hands for including it.

Two etsy sellers donating to Burma

A few weeks ago, Lesley of Banana Pants Clothes, got in touch with me because she was compiling a list of etsy sellers donating to Burma. I've only found one other since then, but thought I'd go ahead and post them both here: Banana Pants Clothes and Mingus Designs. They both have super cute designs. Banana Pants are no longer donating (sorry, I forgot to post earlier!), but she was able to make a big donation in spite of having a massive textbook bill.

Two Treasuries

My little umbrella purse made it into two treasuries on etsy. A treasury is a list that etsy users compile based on a common theme. Maybe one of these treasuries will make it to the front page...

The first one is "Out walkin' in the rain" and the second is "Chance of rain.... 60 percent...."

Screenshots:

New etsy bag sneak preview!

I love, love, love (that's three loves, which means I'm serious) working with this green fabric. In fact, I'm contemplating keeping this bag for myself. If I decide not to, I'll be posting it on my etsy site tomorrow (or maybe later on today so that I don't change my mind back). In the meantime, here's a preview.

Etsy shop in full effect!

After starting my etsy shop last week, I decided that the username "rhenat" was a little too random. I'm moving everything over to www.larsandaddie.etsy.com. It's named after my grandmother and her older brother and I have, for now, small handbags. I'll be adding lots more items over the next month.

For those of you who have never seen or visited etsy, it's a site where you can buy and sell handmade goods. It's one-stop-shopping for really cool, totally unique gifts. It's like an indie craft fair all year long in your own living room. It's awesome. Seriously. So go check it out. Go. Do it.