Playing Catch-up

Today is my day to catch up on blogging! I've been very busy searching high and low to find beautiful new (well, vintage) items, (and making new items and photographing new items and posting new items...) as well as trying to get more connected with Etsy Teams and the it's wonderful community of sellers, planning and promoting the Tacoma Etsy Craft Party on June 18th, and readying for a summer full of craft fairs!

I though I should share some of my latest favorites:

I came across this very informative blog on making hair fascinators.  I've very interested in Millinery, although I rarely wear hats myself.  But I do appreciate them on others, and always stop whenever I see a hat in a window or shop (especially at Nordstrom, where I used to go as a teenager just to try on the hats.)  One of my first jobs was working in a bridal boutique.  The shop was vast and had a huge veil section, most of which were hideous.  I designed my own veil from a length of organza that had a rolled hem and sat atop my head underneath a crown of fresh flowers (a la Maid Marion.)  My face wasn't covered, so in all my pictures walking down the isle you can see my "ugly cry" face (even though I was very happy, and looking quite lovely otherwise!!!)  Anyhow, I always thought it would be fun to make veils that weren't hideous, as well as hats.  And I've seen many pretty ladies walking around lately with flower combs, headbands and clips adorned with flowers, feathers and ribbons that look very fancy and old fashioned.  I ordered some supplies on Etsy (of course!) so I think I shall try my hand at Fascinator-making next week.  Who knows, maybe I'll have a millinery shop someday soon...

I just purchased this item for my husband's upcoming birthday, (shhh, don't tell him!) from Eagles Nest Woodcrafts in Colorado Springs.  It's a brown Mustache Mug that keeps his cookie duster/soup strainer/crumb catcher out of his coffee.  Hope he appreciates it!  :)

For Etsy Shop owners new to the biz, I've come across some incredibly useful tools on Craftopolis and Craft Cult.  Both are tracking tools that show how many page hits you're getting, new fans, new hearts, if you're in any treasuries (not in any yet, sniff sniff) and which tags people are using in their searches to find your shop.  I'm constantly tweaking and fine-tuning my shop, and this past week I've made a huge leap in page hits, thanks in part to these two websites!

I've joined Team EtsyRAIN!  What a great resource for people in the greater Seattle area.  So much information and wonderful people to connect with.  Happy and proud to be a new member!

Now, in totally unrelated news, I saw a couple great movies this past weekend.  First was Bright Star, a romantic period drama about John Keats and the love of his life, Fanny (for whom his Bright Star poem was written.)  Jane Campion directed it and each and every shot in that movie was like a beautifully crafted work of art.  So many lovely scenes, and a sweet and tragic love story.  Highly staisfying to my pining inner victorian.  The second was Alice In Wonderland.  I don't know if this one is actually what I'd call great, it won't win any awards, but as a die hard Tim Burton fan I can't say I hated it.  In fact, Johnny Depp was as amazing as ever (except the dancing scene, yuck) and the two queens, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway were delightful.  It was completely Disneyfied, and if Disney had been left out of it I'm sure Tim Burton and his magical crew would've blown us away with another dark and twisted masterpiece (it was still dark enough that I wouldn't let my 6 year old watch it just yet.)