Organized!

First off... I'm not dead.

While working on bags & wallets for the Big Crafty, I realized that my space was far from efficient. In fact, it was chaos.
I took a few weeks off after the show to relax, but since then I've been taking apart and reorganizing my crafty space.

So I've spent the last month re-doing it all.

And I'm almost ready for the big reveal. I'm gonna finish some stuff up this weekend and SHAZAM! All done!

This is all I'm revealing for now, but I would like to share a link I found while organizing... it's a beautiful to-do list! There is so much going on in this prinitable list... I don't know how someone COULDN'T use it to organize.

Good luck with the list and I will see you soon!

Belated Resolutions

Well, I'm a sucker for peer pressure.

All along the web I've seen people (bloggers and such) talking about their New Years resolutions, in the crafty sense. Some talk about all the things they want to accomplish and all the things they want to create. Others talk about things they'd like to avoid or things they'll change.

And I'm usually a firm believer that resolutions don't work. Blah, blah change... blah, blah diet... blah, blah bigger boobs.

But secretly, I've been finding my hate towards resolutions softening. I now see that a new year is like changing the sheets. It's so fresh and crisp and it smells awesome!
Plus, everyone else is doing it (don't worry, this never worked on me with smoking).

So here are a few of my resolutions. Some are personal, but most involve m. ranae.

-- Blog more. No surprises here... especially if you actually read my blog and wait patiently for the next post (which sometimes takes a while).

-- Upload to Etsy more frequently. It's a known fact that the more days you upload stuff to Etsy the more "seen" you are. I use to upload tons of things at a time... now I pace myself (like a seasoned runner... running, of which I know nothing about).

-- Do at least one craft show. This may be harder than I think, because you have to be accepted to do it. I was recently rejected... so maybe my rejection streak will continue. Nonetheless, I'm gonna try.

-- Keep track of my papers. I don't sell tons & tons of stuff, but the bit I do involves some paperwork. This year I'm gonna keep my files organized and easy to locate. Yay!

-- Keep track of my life. I'm forgetful and scattered and sometimes I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I have an iPod with all the right apps... I just need to use them.

-- Learn more about running a business. I feel the key to success is know your enemy. My enemy is bookkeeping and other business related voodoo. I bought a "Gardening for Dummies" book and now I can actually grow things. I plan on buying "Small Business for Dummies" and start growing my biz.

-- Play more Plants vs. Zombies. Nuff said. Really.

-- Get healthier. I take a lot of vitamins and I try to be conscience of what I eat and do. I got into the habit of exercising last year, but fell out of it. This year I'm gonna conquer exercising.

-- Perfect my art. Every day I get better and better are making my bags, wallets, pouches & such. But there is still room for improvement. There are still things to learn. So I'm gonna keep on keeping on.

Well that is it for now. I'm sure along the way I'll decide that exercising sucks, Plants vs Zombies is time consuming and it's more fun to play games on my iPod than work. But I'm a winner as long as I try to follow these resolutions

Eureka! Fabric Flowers!

So I had a dilemma...
My new Pockety Bag needed something.
What did it need? I did not know... but something.
The overall look was good, but something was missing.
Wait...
Wait...

Eureka!
I need a little flower! Yes, a cute little flower pinned to one side.

And I thought about it for a while... I honestly wasn't sure where to start making a flower. I messed with some ribbon and scraps of fabric, but I wasn't coming up with something I liked. I searched Etsy for awhile looking for brooches & fabric flowers. All were great, but I didn't want to jack up the price of my bag because I purchased something from someone else. I needed to figure out how to make one.

So I considered using someone else's pattern. After searching the internet I finally found a flower I could be proud of... Wise Craft's Flowers. There is a downloadable pattern and full instructions.

These were created by this awesome lady named Blair. She's even more awesome because she let me use the flower pattern on my bags. And I so, so thank her.

I made my first one... the yellow one for the bag and I loved it. Wise Craft even says in her blog how addicting they are... and they are. I ended up making four total that day, but as I type this I get the urge for more... one in every color!

Anyhow... the flower was what was missing from the bag. Now it looks awesome instead of just "great." This exact bag is now for sale on my Etsy. You can check out the rest of the Pockety Tote here. And check out Wise Craft's blog... it's one of the best crafty blogs out there... I swear. I'm not just sucking up 'cuz she let me use her pattern. She is super-crafty.

Wild November

A custom order of mine.



November was an ass-kicker and I learned a few things.

It started out quiet and then BAM! I had order after order after order. And along with me being thrilled I was suddenly juggling two jobs.

I was working the "9-5", embroidering during my breaks. Then I'd come home for hours at the sewing machine. I made lots of shipments and I even had to trek out to the fabric shops to get supplies to fulfill my orders.

It was wild. And I was having trouble sleeping through it all. So I was tired.

But being busy at m. ranae designs was awesome and it gave me a small taste of the good life... that meaning that I'm doing something I love & making money from it. Ah... the sweet life.

I learned something that may be good/bad for my customers... I learned that I am not charging enough. Boo! Hiss! But I learned it the correct way (selling cheap, then adjusting prices) instead of the incorrect way (not selling any of my expensive items).

I also learned that timing is everything. I had two items in my Etsy shop that expired because no one ever bought them... then on a whim I relisted them and they both sold in day.

Lastly, I learned that listing stuff often is a part of being successful. When I listed weekly, I made sales weekly. Huh... who knew?!

So I hope that I can keep some momentum up through this next year... I plan on being a little more consistent and I plan on adding some awesome stuff.

Now... back to the machine!

Bummer, dude...

So... I am very sad to say that I did not make it into The Big Crafty.
I got my rejection notice yesterday after spending most of the day checking my e-mail (every 3 minutes) waiting for the news. And the news was bad.
So... I am sad.
But at the same time, relieved. That sounds crazy but I was a little freaked out. So maybe, just maybe it was for the best. Maybe I wasn't ready for The Big Crafty. Maybe I just need to start with a little crafty.
Like I told my husband, I've only been doing this a year. And even though I've grown a lot in a year I may be even more bad-ass next year. And then maybe, just maybe I'll be better Big Crafty material.

My Own To-do List

Today I was browsing online and I stumbled across my own Etsy store and I thought to myself "only a few people have stopped by to see my new stuff!".
Then I started wondering "how do I get people to stop by more?"

So I started browsing through the articles on Esty and found an idea that I am gonna try.
It's a to-do list that is done daily to promote your online shop. The list includes:

• Post MySpace Bulletin
• Add 5 New Friends on MySpace
• Post on 5 Promo Threads on Etsy
• Post on 5 site help threads
• Post on ??? Ect threads
• Play in Chat
• Renew/List 1 Item
• List Said Item On DeviantART
• Upload Said Photo To Flickr
• Friend 1 person on IndiePublic
• Add I Photo To IndiePublic
• Blog post

Now I don't know what some of that stuff is... like ???Ect or IndiePublic. And I know what some things are, but I don't use those sites... like Flickr or DeviantART. Nonetheless, I want to promote more. So I am gonna make my own list and go from there.

Here are my thoughts:
I am horrible at doing things regularly... take this blog for example.
I am horrible at multi-tasking... just ask my coworkers at my 9-5.
I get bored with routines... anybody can tell you that!
So I am gonna give myself a small goal/list to start with and then maybe add if it works.

Here's my starter list which I will do once a week:

• Add three new friends on MySpace
• Post a bulletin/note on MySpace and Facebook
• Post on five craft threads (Etsy, Craftbits, etc.)
• List one new item in my shop
• Find one place in town to post my card
  
• Blog

I have some other ideas I'd like to get in to motion soon. But, again, I'm horrible at multi-tasking... I'm just gonna work on my list for now.
So... I am off to start myself a Facebook listing (I have a personal one, but I'm gonna start a m. ranae designs one). Then, since I'm done with blogging for today, I am off to do the rest on my list.

Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it!!

Embroidery is my bag...

Hey! Sorry I haven't been on lately. It just means that I have been SO busy!

But I have been crafting and I'm excited to share my new adventure... embroidery!

I've never embroidered before and it seemed interesting after discovering this website. I saw this and thought it was so freakin' cool. The site, Sublime Stitching, is a site full of embroidery products for the "modern girl". So it's projects are skulls and pin-up girls instead of flowers & bunnies.

So I went to one of my local craft stores and found that they were having a kick-ass sale on embroidery floss... 8 for $1. So I bought 16, a hoop and some needles and started teaching myself how to do this.

So... with the help of a page in a craft book I had, I started practicing my stitches and attempting this old craft from days gone by... here's the proof of how old this art is.

I also bought a book of patterns and have decided to get a group together to practice & learn together. 

It's incredibly fun and easy and so far I have made the very top item (which I sewed into a purse when I was done) and another bag and... well I guess another bag. I guess this means that embroidery is my bag, baby! 

Okay, okay that was lame. Yet fun!