This will be the last post here at wordpress because I have moved my blog over to squarespace and I love it! Won’t you please come on over and check it out?

www.doeandmouse.com

It’s going to be great!

It has been a busy couple of months leading up to the Brooklyn Lyceum Craft Market last week and Christmas in general. Thanks to everyone who came out to the craft fair and everyone who has supported my little shop! It’s amazing to think that people actually want to buy and use something that you have created. It makes me so happy.

It was my first time selling at a craft fair and it was awesome. There were lots of people attending, even when it was snowing one day and raining the next.

As an added bonus for my taste buds, the Brooklyn Lyceum sold delicious coffee, warm chocolate chip cookies, and some very tasty beer. It was a great weekend and I would definitely do it again.

There was also some amazing surprises and support from Etsy as well. On Cyber Monday I was featured in the Etsy Storque for free shipping. This lead to lots of views and a bunch of unexpected sales as I was trying to stock up for the craft fair.

And then suddenly this week, I found my russian doll coffee sleeve in the Etsy “Environmentally Friendly” Gift Guide. I was so surprised and elated. I couldn’t believe it! Etsy rotates the gift guides on the front page and I happened to get this shot of it (my coffee sleeve is in the upper left hand corner).

I am so grateful to Etsy and to everyone who I met at the craft fair! It’s been an exciting month.

Thank you so much!!

Do you like coffee? Of course you do.  And it’s even better when it’s free!

Head over to Sarahcentric, where you can enter to win some delicious and hard to find Graham Cracker coffee and one of my cute coffee sleeves  in honor of Sarahcentric’s new blog design. She will be selecting two winners and giving you extra special ways to enter more than once. 

Believe me, I’ve had this Graham Cracker coffee and it’s sooo very good. I beg Sarah to bring me some every time she goes upstate. Even my boyfriend, who hates flavored coffee, loves it.

So, please head over to Sarahcentric now to enter!!

It’s a celebration here today. New fabrics have arrived in the mail. This calls for coffee and ice cream. (Please not that there is no way I could take this picture without sampling the ice cream first. Impossible.)

It all started with this pretty yellow floral by Marcus Brothers’ “Come Quilt with Me”. I noticed it and I needed to buy it immediately. I’ve had a thing for yellow these days.

But, of course, as I scanned the Etsy shop of Mineymo, I realized I needed more, more, more! These things spiral out of control sometimes.

Heather Ross Mendocino Seahorse in Orange & Heather Bailey Bijoux Mod Beads in Tangerine

Heather Bailey Bijoux Tiled Primrose in Red, Erin McMorris Park Slope Pebbles in Ivory, & Erin McMorris Park Slope Birds in Ivory

NOW. Here is my dilemma, and I hope someone can help me decide. I originally bought these to use for spring coffee sleeves in my Etsy shop. Should I stick to the original plan or go ahead and use them now? I mean, new fabric just sitting there is so hard to resist. I need some opinions please!

I have started adding some new fabric styles in the shop. Here’s a little peek. If you don’t see them in the shop yet, the rest will be up by end of day today. And remember, the thanksgiving special of Free shipping continues all weekend. Thanks!

Hydrangeas in black with rings

Hydrangeas in blue with red polka dots

professor “slight red stripe” cozy

Straw flowers with yellow polka dots

Hydrangeas in blue with yellow polka dots

Hello!

I’ll be having a little Thanksgiving special this weekend in my Etsy Shop. From Black Friday (12/28) to Cyber Monday (12/1) I will be offering FREE SHIPPING on all items in the shop.

All listings will be updated to include this special during that time. I hope you can pop in and take a look. I’ll be adding some new items to the shop this weekend as well, so keep an eye out.

Thanks!

Kim

More coffee sleeves cut out and ready to flip.

I’ve been having a tough time this weekend trying to figure out the best kind of photography for my Etsy shop. You can see here that when I photograph the coffee sleeves on the table against the green wall, the light and texture looks so good. But I have learned that using background colors different from the item itself discourages people from using these types of photos in Treasuries, collection that are sometimes chosen for the front page of Etsy.

I don’t have a white or neutral colored wall in the room with the most light, so I decided to try a white curtain for the background. I don’t think it’s working out, though. The photo then becomes bleached out somehow. Or maybe my camera is just off.

Anyway, I’ll be experimenting more. I hope this doesn’t affect item views!

My printed fabric from Spoonflower arrived last week. I wanted to test it out first by getting a swatch. I decided on an image that my friend, a scientist, had made from one of her experiments – A Fly Brain!

I thought the darkness of the image would really test the limits of the printed fabric. And besides, the fly brain is so cool looking that if it came out well enough then it might be nice to make stuff with it. What stuff, you ask? I have no clue, yet. That’s why I took so long to post this. I wanted to make something and post all stages of the project, but that will have to wait.

It’s pretty amazing looking, but this might not be the best use of Spoonflower. I think the colors are too dark. You can tell from the close up below that you lose some details compared with the original.

All in all, it’s pretty amazing to order your own fabric, so I would definitely use them again… As soon as I come up with a great design. There are certainly people out there who have used Spoonflower in amazing ways, one of my favorites being The Small Object who made a letter to her niece on a quilt.

Wow! Look at that amazingly lazy cat. I have been super busy these days, especially compared to him. Sometimes, it’s just not fair to see him so relaxed when I feel so stressed out.

I’m have finished my bulk order of coffee sleeves (Phew!), but all this time I have been making a mental list of the seemingly endless tasks/items to make before christmas. It doesn’t look like much, but it feels like a huge undertaking. The coffee sleeves alone will take forever, just because I feel like I need to make a million. I’ve been so stressed out about it, that I took a whole  week of vacation, so I could get a good head start. The boyfriend cautions that I MUST do some fun stuff for myself during that time, though, like a museum or movie, etc. We’ll see…

1. Austen’s Quilt – It’s almost done. Just need to add the binding.

2. Susan’s christmas orders – 2 Teacher’s Tote Bags and 1 insulated lunch bag. (I should make myself one of those, too)

3. A million coffee sleeves  - For the craft fair at the Brooklyn Lyceum.

4. Rose’s christmas orders – Well, that’s a surprise. Sorry!

5. A scarf for myself – It’s cold as shit now and I sold my own scarf last winter to the boyfriend’s sister in-law. 

6. RB’s scarf – black polka dots with a black flannel backing. Should be cute.

7. Yellow checkered scarf – That needs to be made. Then again, it is a fall or spring scarf. It could wait considering number 5 on the list.

My cream herringbone ribbon finally came in from M&J Trims on Friday. Phew! I was getting a bit worried because the white ribbon is on back order and I have alot of coffee sleeves to finish up by the end of the week. 

This morning I set to work. It’s a time consuming process. A bit nerve racking as well because I am stamping the ribbon with fabric ink and I hate when it doesn’t come out perfectly. But all in all I have about 170 labels now – or at least that much because I may have lost count once or twice. More is always better, anyway.
 

I’m beginning to think I think it’s time to take the next step and order some real woven fabric labels instead of making my own. The stamping was supossed to be a temporary solution. I’m just not sure where to buy them. There are so many places online, it feels hard to choose. If anyone has a place they love, please let me know! I would love to hear from you.