Dear Friend

I was just over at M. Writes reading her most recent post…on writing of course. And of course I got inspired! (I always feel like getting inspired from another blog is cheating because I’m not being completely unique…)

Marta was saying that some of her most treasured belongings are her written notes, from her hubby or friends.

When I was a kid, my family moved from the big city to a small logging camp where we lived for 8 months until my Dad finished his job there. I left behind one of my best friends, Rose. We had been friends since grade three and the closest of friends. We saw each other every day at school, or called each other frequently, had sleep-overs, fought over nylons, cried with each other and laughed till we had tears streaming down our faces.

Rose and I, both being romantics, decided that while I was gone we would write each other letters. But when we learned that the logging camp was only accessible by float plane and the mail wouldn’t get out very often, we decided to write our letters in journals. I would start each entry as “Dear Rose” and she would start hers as “Dear Kate“. Then when we met months later, we would trade journals.

I still have the journals I filled up, some pages with pictures of our adventures, some with funny sketches and mostly with letters to my friend Rose. Years later, when I would pick up my journal, it was still hard to not write “Dear Rose” at the top of the entry.

Rose and I are still friends, we’ve been friends for almost 16 years (if I’m doing my math right…). Even though we’re far away from each other whenever we talk it’s like we were never apart. I’m hoping I get to see her after our trip to England next month…it’ll be a great reunion!

I’m going to write her right now and see if she’d want to start up the “Dear Rose” journals again…it might be neat to do since we’re in a totally different state of life than we were before.

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Gimme

I want:

These shoes

This hair thingy

This sweater

This wall decal for our bedroom

And this one too

This journal is pretty cute

And this necklace.

Stay classy San Diego.

I Need Chocolate

                                

                                 

So guess what? I’ve already accomplished one of my goals this week! Whoopwhoop!

I had some help from the Etsians in the forums the other day, on how to make a modge podge project less wrinkled. Apparently, all you have to do is paint the item with water before you apply the MP. I actually found that watering down the MP before I applied it worked better, since the journal I was covering acted weird when the water was applied.

The end result is definately better than what I tried before, still not perfect, but I’ll be working on it until I perfect the skill (:

Oh, do ya like the rub-ons?

Techniques

                      

The other day, in my Get a Makeover post, I wrote about using different items in your product pictures to show the size of your products. You can do the obvious, and place a ruler in the picture (this is a good technique for fabric sellers) or you can be a bit more creative. Lusummers store has some great examples of this. See the cute little pin cushions at the top? As soon as you look at this picture you know the size of the product. She’s done it in a creative way, without using a ruler, by using an item we all are familiar with: a book.

                       

I wanted to show you this picture as well because it’s a great example of a clickable picture. One of the best tips I’ve read on Etsy is this: Use a main picture that will draw in the viewers interest and make them want to click. To do this, it’s best if you just give them a hint of the product and make them have to click to see what exactly the item is. Have the picture at a weird angle, show them just a piece of it to get them curious. That’s exactly what Lusummers did here. From this picture, you don’t really know what the item is but it’s colorful, interesting, and fun so you want to click it to see more!

Make sure to apply this to your new items and when you’re updating old photos!

Projects

                    

 

                          

                          

I’ve been working on a few projects lately, a couple sewing things, a couple crafts. This journal is the final result of one of the paper experiments I’ve done. It was a simple one, I covered the journal with pages from a magazine, pasting it to the journal cover with Modge Podge. I’ve worked with Modge Podge before and I like it, the only issue I have is that it leaves wrinkles in lighter weight paper. It’s not always a bad thing, sometimes it gives a really cool antique look, but sometimes it’s just not the look you’re wanting.

When I was out of town for a work trip last week, I stopped by a scrapbooking store and picked up some really funky cardboard letters. I decided to use a couple of them as sentcils on the front of this journal.

I’m pretty impressed with the end result! The pictures I chose give a calming feeling and the letters are fun and bold.         

                     

                    

                     

This bag is my second project…still in the works. I finished this version, but like everything else I start from scratch, it needs improvement before I put in up for grabs. My intention with this pouch was to make it “expandable”. I decided to go a bit more on the simple side with this one in the end, but I think it will work out with some practice. There’s three Zippies in one, really, a Zippered pouch in the centre, surrounded by two pouches that close with the main big zipper.

It’s hard to know what you should do first on this project. The centre Zippie is attached to the big one surrounding it. I needed to figure out when in the process to sew it; before I’d finished the outer pouch, but before it was completely finished.

I made a small section for credit cards, the middle zippered part and then another section that is the measurements of the main pouch.

Obviously, I still have a bunch of things to figure out, but it’ll be a fun and challenging process!