A review and giveaway...

My Sak Saver baggies have been featured by Cindy on Izzie Mac & Me. Check it out! Thanks a bunch Cindy!

A success!!

I was invited to set up a table with my crafts and other business Beachbody at the Mothers of Preschoolers Home Business show yesterday. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but I had been wanting to check out MOPS so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for me. I'm glad I did. I sold quite a bit of stuff including lots of Sak Saver Baggies, several Crayon Keeper Rollups as well as some Zippered wristlets.

It was great to be able to tell people that "yes I made that". Everyone was very friendly and both my girls did great in their respective childcare rooms.

Two thumbs up for MOPS Home Business show!!

Thanks for inviting me Sarah!

Refashion a childs favorite skirt

So my oldest daughter K, age 4, absolutely LOVED this little denim princess skirt. Not for any other reason than it has Disney princesses on it. The other day she put it on and seriously it wouldn't cover her little bottom. She wears legging under almost every dress or skirt so I let her wear it that day.


But while she was napping I added this cute Alexander Henry Striped fabric and made it into a skirt that she can actually wear! Now she loves it even more...but I have to say that the first thing she did when she saw it was make sure that the princesses were still on it. Gotta love a girly girl!

A NO go...

I made the decision today to not go to the craft show this Thursday. While I would've really liked to go, I had to look at the economics of the situation. Since our family is still in Flagstaff, any money I would've made selling my stuff would probably not have covered the amount we would have spent in gas, food and lodging to go to Phoenix for the one night.

On a good note though, my etsy shop is doing really good and I now have over 20 sales in one month mainly due to my Sak Saver Baggies! A big thank you everyone that has made a purchase. I am continuing to add more baggies in different fabrics so please check it out. These would made great gifts for birthdays and the holidays! My baggies are not the most expensive reusable bags on etsy but I feel they are very comparable in quality and design! I've gotten great reviews on them!

So with that...I'm off to get the kiddos ready for bed and guess what....make more baggies!!

All for now.
Tami

Starting small...

Later this month, on the 22nd, I'm heading down to Phoenix to a small craft fair at my sisters corporate office (Dept of Public Safety). I've been doing some research on craft businesses and it says to always start with small craft fairs that don't cost a lot of money before moving on to the larger, more expensive ones. Also, it says that when you're starting out to aim to cover your cost of your table and don't expect for everything to sell out! Its all about getting the word out!

Sewing is something I enjoy and can do while my kids are playing or after they've gone to bed at night. Its also something that I can easily stop what I'm doing to help them when they need me. Making a few extra dollars here and there, doing something I love is awesome and I hope to keep it going. In addition to the sales to my friends and family, I've made a couple sales in my etsy.com shop which is very exciting!

While I've been sewing for over 15 years, selling my stuff is all very new to me! I take great pride in my sewing creations and will always do my best to make great quality stuff!

Thanks to all of you who have supported me in my crafting journey so far!!

Some girl fabric I have...

This fabric is in addition to the other fabric that I currently have Sak Saver Baggies made from...

A Name and payment options

So finally decided on a name for my reusable bags....

Sak Saver Baggies

Also, I do have a couple options if you want to pay by debit/credit card: I can either email you an invoice for the cost of the baggies and you can pay via a secure website (propay.com) OR you can purchase via my online etsy store www.itsaten.etsy.com If you don't see exactly what you want in my store, just let me know what fabric you like and I can make them and create a Reserved listing for you on etsy.

Thanks!!!

More than I thought...

Well I guess I had more boy fabric than I thought...

Fabric descriptions: top left orange and yellow have octopus/squid looking things on them, the black has motorcycles, the grey striped has dirt bicyles and says "all terrain" on it, tan one has monkeys and trees, the bottom left has black bears/trees, middle is old fashioned airplanes, the light blue onthe right has large pirates and boats and then there's the red sports fabric on the bottom right.

Thanks!

Boy designs and a name??

Here are some reusable bags geared towards boys...I have some other fabric that could work for them as well (airplane, light blue with pirates and red sports fabric) - just haven't made any from those yet. Maybe I'll just take a picture of the fabric and post it for now and if you like any of those better you can let me know and I can make you whatever size you want from that fabric.

These are the Sandwich size Baggies I have made...(the sports one pictured is the only one I have for that design...it was a small scrap of fabric)
These are the mini size Snack Baggies I have made...

I'm also trying to come up with a catchy name for the bags....I've seen them called Reusies, Lunchkins, Snack Taxi...among other things.

Let me know what name you like or if you can think of something else!!

Snack Eater Baggies (Kendall's suggestion)

ReUseIts!

Trying out Etsy.com

I have opened an Etsy.com shop and have posted a few things. I'm still trying to figure out how it works so it may take me awhile to really get the hang of it. Etsy.com just gives me a way to reach a larger audience, have people pay with credit/debit cards or Paypal and sell to people that live in another city/state! I will try and keep that site updated with what I have!

http://www.itsaten.etsy.com/

Thanks!!!

New size and more fabric choices...

Hi there...I spent some time this morning putting some more bags together and also came up with a bit smaller snack size bag. So here they are.

Mini Snack size (approx 4"x 7 1/2")

Just 3 fabric designs of the Mini snack size right now

Below are the designs I have done in the Small Sandwich size (approx 6" x 7 1/2")

More Small Sandwich size bagsAnd I just have 3 of the larger Quart size bags (approx 8"x 7 1/2")

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle...reusable bags!

I had seen these reusable bags before but had always wondered what people were lining them with to make them suitable for food storage...that is until a friend of mine showed me one that her husband had purchased online. I just took a quick look at it the other day and made some mental notes. Got the fabric and velcro I needed while I was down in Phoenix over the weekend and I made a test one last night...which I won't post.

But then I made a few more today...I was able to come up with a design based on some purse like bags I had made for the girls...

I made them in two sizes, 7"x5.5" and 7"x8.5" (a bit bigger than regular ziploc disposable snack and sandwich size bags) I intend to really only use these for the girls snacks (crackers, fruit, sandwiches etc) as the nylon fabric is only water resistant, not waterproof. These would not be suitable for extremely wet items plus the top just seals with velcro which would not keep items fresh for extended periods of time - like for more than a day I would guess.

But just think about how many plastic ziploc bags you go through with kids or if you take your lunch/snacks to work every day. If you had a handful of these around, you wouldn't go through quite so many!

I'll be posting more designs as I get them completed. I'm still trying to figure out pricing so check back soon for more info!

Crayon Keeper Rollups-Girl Designs

Here are the Girl Designs of Crayon Keeper rollups that I have available to ship. The # in ( ) represents the # I have of that design...Cost is $6 per rollup (shipping costs extra and depends upon method of shipping requested)

1. Light Blue Barbie (2)
2. Light Blue Tweety bird (3)
3. Pastel house, mountain, floral (3)
4. Polka dot (2)
5. Red Violet Daisy (3)
6. Striped Daisy (1)
7. Pink/green frog (3)
8. Pink/green dots & stripes (3)
9. Light Pink floral (1)

Crayon Keeper Rollups...Boy Designs in stock

Here is a picture of the "Boy" designs I have complete and ready to ship...the number in italics represents the # I have available...Cost is $6 per rollup (shipping costs extra and depends upon method of shipping requested)

1. Black motorcycle (1)

2. Tan camoflauge (6)

3. Black/gray All-Terrain bicycle (1)

4. Royal Blue Sports (2)

5. Dark Blue Football (3)

6. Multi color Sports (1)

7. Boy Tropical/Luau (7)

8. NBA Basketball, multi team (2)

9. Construction (1)

Water Bottle Carriers

I found this tutorial over on a website called Pink Chalk Studio http://pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/ and thought it was super cute. I altered mine a bit by making them bigger and I also made the strap instead of using ribbon/twill. I think these will make great gifts!

Fair update and wristlet bags

Wow...its been awhile since I posted anything here. The pseudo craft fair that I made all those crayon holders for was a bit of a bust. It wasn't actually a "craft fair" so to speak but more like vendors set up on the St Joseph's bridge trying to sell stuff to passerby's. Not the easiest thing to do. Plus, St Joseph's encourages employees to NOT carry cash...so I probably would've sold a handful more had people had cash on them...but its ok. It was fun anyway and everyone seemed to like them! I do plan on going to an "actual" craft fair as we get closer to the holiday season..

Anyway, the newest thing I started making is these wristlet bags. They measure about 7"wide by 5" high and have a handle that is about 10" long. Each bag is lined with a coordinating fabric and have interfacing to help them hold their shape. I've been selling them to friends/family for $10. They make a great, unique gift!

Here are a few pictures...

First Tote bag

I made this bag to give away as a raffle for our MOMS Club banquet. I used a McCalls pattern I had and just modified it a little bit.

The theme of the banquet was "Vegas" so I lined it with Robert Kaufmann card fabric. It turned out pretty good but I think I'd use a different type of interfacing the next time I make a bag as this craft stuff I used wasn't the best stuff and wouldn't iron on very well.

Anxious to make different things...

While I'm still busy making Crayon Keeper Rollups for the craft fair (which is in about a week) I am really wanting to start making other stuff. I want to try a water bottle holder as well as a CD/DVD case for all the girls music CD's I have in the car. I've also gotten some really cute fabric over the last month or two that I want to perhaps make the girls a couple summer dresses. (I made one for Kendall a few weeks ago...I'll have to take a picture of her in it and post it...the pic I thought I had was on my cell phone.)

I haven't spent any time making any more belts or headbands (other than a couple I made to order) so it looks like my craft fair table will be primarily the Crayon Keepers. I do have about 70 of them...I'm gonna shoot to have 80 for the fair. I figure any that I don't sell I may post on Etsy.com, sell to friends or whatever. If I have time I'll make some headbands and belts...we'll see.

So thats all for now...

Prepping for Craft Fair

So I'm taking my stuff to my first craft fair! I'll be selling my crayon keepers, belts and headbands at a craft fair my mother in law told me about on May 7th. Its down in Phoenix on the 3rd Ave bridge by St Joseph's hospital (she works right next to it) . She thinks that I could sell a bunch of crayon things so I'm going to do make as many as I can. My goal is to have about 100 crayon things (my mother in laws suggestion), 20 belts and however many headbands I can do by then. I should have enough fabric to do most of the crayon keepers, but might need to get some more "boy" type fabric...but we'll see.

So far I have 27 crayon keepers and 4 belts...

Scrappy Belts...

So here they are...Scrappy Belts!! The best part is that no two belts will ever be the same and with a variety of fabrics and colors in each one, you're sure to be able to wear these belts with many different outfits AND they are reversible so you're getting two looks in one belt! The price for these belts will be $15. (The buckles turned out to be more expensive than I originally thought since I order them online I have to pay shipping.) I've worn mine (the very first one I made) a couple times and have gotten great compliments!

These are size Medium (approx 42"-43")

These are a size Large (Approx 45-46")

Have tons of scraps just ready to be made into belts. So let me know if you want a custom belt...

New style and belts

So I decided to try a new style of headband and think that I like it better than the first. It adds a couple steps to the process but still isn't too time consuming.

Then at our Fit Club on Wednesday, my friend had on a cute belt that she got a boutique downtown and paid like $20 for. After looking at it I thought it was something I could do. So decided I would try to create one. I've made 2 so far but haven't finished them yet. Yesterday I went to find some belt buckle sliders and after 3 different stores I gave up...after doing some research online, I ended up ordering about 10 last night. Hopefully they will work and I can keep making my scrap fabric belts! (I'll post my finished product once I get it completed!) These take a bit longer to make so I'm trying to figure out a good price...J thinks $15 - but we'll see how the buckles turn out. In the photo, mine are the ones on the outer edges...the one from the boutique is in the middle.

Headbands

Today I made a few headbands for my girls...very simple concept. Fabric pieces are stitched together and the bottom of the headband is held together with a simple ponytail holder. Think I"ll be using up some of my scrap fabric for these!

Crayon Keepers

So here is my first "creation" for Its a TEN Specialty Creations...oh and in case you didn't know, TEN are my initials (Tami E Nicholson) so everything on this site will be things that I have made myself...but not necessarily thought of. There are soooo many websites out there that offer step by step tutorials on how to make things. Those are quite helpful in getting ideas...then I usually make slight variations.

Crayon Keepers

These handy little holders will hold 16 regular size crayons and roll up nicely to fit in a diaper bag or purse. They measure approximately 16"x 5" unrolled with either a ribbon tie or elastic closure. No more loose crayons marking up the inside of your bags...plus your child will love being able to pull each crayon out of their pocket, color and then put them back in their spot. Great for restaurants, airports or anywhere your child needs to be entertained!

Cost $5, plus shipping (without crayons) - if you'd like crayons the cost is $6 plus extra shipping charges. Below is a small sampling of the current fabrics I have. Check back for more...

Blogging my creations...

So I wanted a place where I could post the different things that I make without having to purchase a website so I thought a blog would be the perfect answer. I will do my best to keep it updated. Please feel free to ask whatever questions you might have!