Tuesday's Tips for Etsy

News before the tip: So I crocheted a bullseye for the nerf gun and it works really well with the velcro. Unfortunately (but fortunately) the boyfriend had a stilt walking gig last night so we didn't get to play.

Also...I also got a convo from a fellow etsian who's in town and wants to see me perform. She emailed me before she left Canada, so hopefully she can get to a computer to see where I'm at.



Also...I can't wait to start listing some new stuff. Here's one that's been listed for a while but is still one of my favorites.

Tuesday's Tip: I'm often interested in what people are searching for. Did you know that you can see a tag fractal of what's being looked for right now? Go ahead, give it a click...I'll wait...Sometimes if I can't decide what to renew, I'll look at the tag fractal and find something in my shop that goes with it.

Missed some "Tuesday's Tips" and want to read them? Click here to read what you've missed.

Thrift Store gone Wild

It's always a dangerous thing for my boyfriend and I to go into a thrift store...so of course that's what we did last night. He was looking for a new water gun for the scooter and I was looking for a new sweater to take apart...I was successful, and he wasn't (don't worry he found one at Walmart later on)...

He did find one of those 10 shooter nerf guns though...this was the dangerous part. He already had the velcro nerf bullets at home, so he started playing with it immediately. We noticed that the bullets stuck really well to a chair, so with a little bit of painters tape, we had a target and the game was on.

After a while, I remembered I had a very large granny square I'd made for the dog. I ran off to get it and then we had an even better target. We kept making up new games and point systems and played until one in the morning...now he wants me to crochet a better target...I will, but after I finish the jacket that's still not done.

My hands are sore from all the shooting, but boy was it fun!

Sunday Funday!

I'm almost finished with the second bolero jacket. There's a good chance I can finish it today and hopefully even get it photographed and listed. I really hope she likes them. Then I have 2 half finished projects that I really want to get listed tomorrow...it seems like forever since I've been able to put something new in my shop.

Sunday funday video:
Since some of the subtitles are a bit hard to read, I'll give you the lowdown. They've set up a bathroom with no mirror and a set of identical twins, one on each side, and it is so funny when people walk in and can't see their own reflection.

Cheesy Mysteries...What fun!

Somehow I've gotten sucked into these cheesy Rabbi Small Mysteries. The one I just finished, Sunday The Rabbi Stayed Home by Harry Kemelman, definitely lived up to the others. It's a fun read, and I would say interesting even if you're not Jewish. It's a mixture of murder, crime solving and synagogue politics. I've already read Friday The Rabbi Slept Late and Saturday The Rabbi Went Hungry...I have Monday's on my shelf now, and I think about 2 or three books to go before I get to that.

In other news: I have the day off today...Though most of it will be spent veging on the couch as much as possible, I'm going to my friend's house for brunch. Every once in a while we do a clothes swap...you bring all the clothes you don't want anymore and take other people's clothes that they don't want anymore. Anything left over goes to charity. I'm hoping to find some cool sweaters that I can upcyle/recycle.

Do you have the day off today too? Here's a site you can browse while you're veging too!

Tune in tomorrow for the "Sunday Funday" video of the week!

Friday's Favorites

Every Friday I feature some of my favorites on etsy made by etsians other than myself. Of last weeks favorites, there was one sale...maybe this week there will be more!

This week I decided to feature some of my blog followers. There were so many great items to choose from....If you like them, give them a click and show them some love.



Like these items, but your shopping bug isn't quite cured?

Tune in tomorrow and I'll tell you about the book I just finished!

A Night Out

My friend, Ginger, had her birthday last night. We went to this Bavarian Restaurant with a German band and tons of food. I'm allergic to beer, so that part of the evening was kind of wasted on me, but everyone said it was really good.

Then we went to hear "The Roughnecks" play. They're a rock-a-billy band that we know a couple of people in. Ginger got up and played a couple of sets too, and it was tons of fun...But I was fading fast and left after the second set, I have to work today, and I already know it's going to take a lot of caffine to make it through.

Things I am thankful for: COFFEE!!!

In Crafty News: My mom's friend saw my zipper purses and liked them so much that she gave my mom a ton of zippers to mail to me. So you might be seeing a few more of these after I've caught up on some of the other stuff.

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for some cool stuff made by other etsians in "Friday's Favorites"!

Books and knits and magic...oh my!

So the other day I finished The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart that we read for my book club...it was a really weird book. A man throws away all his free choices to the whim of the dice and pretty much chaos insues. In the beginning it made me really uncomfortable reading it, but as I got toward the end, I began to see the humor in it. I would only really recommend it to those who like really strange black comedies.


In Knitting News: I started the second bolero jacket of the custom set yesterday. I was hoping to get the back done, but I didn't have enough time...and then the "Biggest Loser" was on (which I'm totally addicted to) and I needed to focus all my energy on cheering Tara on...I don't actually know her or anything, I just think she's going to win.

And my mom keeps gushing over the beret I made for her...it's the same one as in this picture, only green...she swears it doesn't give her hat head! I definitely want to make some more of these for next winter.

In Magic News: They added 4 extra sets in addition to my 6 shows, which is why I didn't get the back done on my sweater...at first I was kind of bummed, but there were fun people in the hotel yesterday and I ended up having a really good time...the sets are going to last for a month, so I really hope that fun people keep visiting Las Vegas.

Tuesday's Tips for Etsy

Good morning! Another week has just flown by, and another tip is here already!

We are given 14 tags when we list our items to make it easier for buyers to find our stuff, but sometimes it's hard to come up with enough tags, or maybe we come up with too many. Well, google has a Keyword tool that will help come up with some of the most searched words that pertain to what you are selling. It's pretty cool! I hope you guys like it and I hope it helps you get some sales.

In knitting news: I finished one of the 2 custom sweaters I'm making. I'll start on the next one today. This one is a tad smaller, so hopefully it will go just a tad quicker.

Have you missed previous Tuesday's Tips? No problem, just click here to read the ones you missed.

Scooter pics!

Ask and you shall receive!

Yesterday a few of us went down to Circus Circus to watch the boyfriends show and see the scooter in action. I took pictures and video of him...he's so cute! He made a cool little montage of the video to put on his myspace (I'd post the link, but I think he has his preferences set to private).



You can see the bubbles coming out of the tailpipe. The kids were having a great time chasing them...it was like a parade!



No, the scooter is not breaking down...he has a fog machine on there and makes it smoke at whim!

I couldn't get a photo of him shooting water at people...it doesn't photograph very well. The kids were loving it though...and I'm sure as we hit the 120 degree weather this summer, the water gun is going to be more and more popular!

Don't forget, tomorrow is "Tuesday's Tips for Etsy"...it could be something good (I hope).

Sunday Funday...and some knitting

Well, I'm almost finished with one of my two sweater custom order set. The goal of course is to finish it today. (Do I say that every day?) I just have the collar left to do on the black one and then I can start on the white one. I think I can get a couple of good hours in this morning.

This afternoon, I'm headed off to Circus Circus to meet up with some friends and watch the clown scooter in action! I'm going to bring the camera along, so hopefully I don't do something stupid like leave it in the car, and hopefully I'll have something to show you guys tomorrow.

...And I made another sale! Whee! Unfortunately, the post office that was open on Sunday has closed, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to mail it...I'm really going to miss that post office...*sigh*

Even though it's spring, do you still find yourself getting chilly? And I don't mean with rice

Sunday Funday:
And now for the weekly Sunday Funday video...this one is all about Sheep Art!

Books and Scooters!

So I finished another book last week. This one was The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It's the second book I've read by him and I must say that he is getting to be one of my favorite authors. He has a great way of mixing the normal and the supernatural together and you never know what's going to come next. You really find yourself getting sucked into the story.

In scooter news:
Some of you might remember in this post where I talked about my boyfriend finding a scooter at a thrift store...well now he's totally tricked it out as the coolest clown scooter ever! It blows bubbles out the tailpipe, has a smoke machine, shoots water out the front, has a siren and a microphone. I know all the clowns (and I mean that literally) at Circus Circus are going to be so jealous when he brings it in today. I got to ride it around the parking lot last night...the bubbles from the tailpipe are definitely my favorite!

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for the "Sunday Funday" video of the week!

Friday's Favorites

Pearls! Pearls! Pearls!

There are so many beautiful items made with pearls. It's not just for June Cleaver anymore! I got some great submissions and I also found some cute things made by the etsyknitters team.

Hmmm...what's a better way to celebrate the first day of spring than to buy yourself a present? See anything you like?



I've finished another book, so come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about it!

Not a day off...

Usually I'm off on Thursdays, but not today. I picked up an extra day at the Venetian because my freelance gigs are pretty much non-existant right now. That ups my shows from 18 to 24 this week...whew...exhausting.

The plus side is that I do get more knitting done at work than I do at home, so this will probably be a really productive week for me.

After work last night, I tried knitting a bit more, but found myself sleep knitting and I had to put my work down because I didn't want to mess anything up. The boyfriend thinks it's hillarious when he looks over and sees my hands working and my head drooped in slumber.

Friday's Favorites update:
I know there's a lot of jewelry people that read this blog, so tomorrow's favorites are going to be all about pearls. Do you have anything made with pearls? Post your item in my comments!
Even if you are not a jeweler but you have something with pearls, go ahead and put it in the comments too!

St. Patrick's Day

When you think of St. Patrick's day, you think of green, beer, parties and pinching. Of the above listed, all I got was green. One doesn't think about getting up at the crack of dawn and doing a parade...that's what I got to do.


The parade was at the Venetian to help promote the gondola rides they have through the Grand Canal Shops. We were dressed and ready to go and paraded down to St. Mark's Square. One of my duties was to help the stilt walker get up the stairs and over the bridge...Not that he really needed my help. He used to do flips and stuff on those things when he was with the Moscow Circus.

They dyed the Canal a bright green (which to me actully made it look a bit more like Venice) and they had a parade of Gondolas and even a little person dressed as a leprichon. He was a cool guy named Dave. The little person we usually use couldn't make it, and his name is (get this)Shorty! He had it legally changed.

We finished the parade without a hitch and then went on to do our regularly scheduled shows...all in all a 10 hour day.

In Knitting News: During the day I have the back for one of the custom sweaters almost finished...my goal at work today is to finish that and the sleeves.

Tuesday's Tips for Etsy

I was reading mysevenkids.blogspot.com yesterday where she was talking about tips for making treasuries...

It got me to thinking about Poster Sketch which is a great tool for putting together treasuries. It's basically a template provided by etsy where you can put together a treasury whenever you like and it saves it to your computer through cookies automatically. I never believe it's actually going to do this, so I copy the item numbers provided at the bottom of the screen and email it to myself so I have it ready for the next time I manage to snag a treasury.

Go ahead, try it out, but be careful...once you start making treasuries, addiction is close behind.

Have you missed previous Tuesday's Tips? No problem, on the left side of the screen, you can click on different labels...simply click on tips to see what you missed.

A day of knitting...and a question?

First things first...my little doggie, "Bess" made it into a treasury as did the sweater I knit that she's wearing. As proud as I am of my work, no matter what I do she's going to outshine anything that she's wearing...Or maybe I'm just a proud mama.

In Knitting News:
Today is the last day I've given myself to finish the sweater I'm working on...starting tomorrow, I'm getting cracking on my custom orders, so whatever's not finished will just have to wait until the knitting frenzy is over. The orders are for someone's wedding, so I really want to have them mailed out with plenty of time to spare in case there are mail delays or something.

Question time:
I see a lot of different items up on etsy that say recycled or upcycled...is there a difference? I'm in the process of making a sweater from recycled yarn and I'd love to know everyone's thoughts on this.

Don't forget to tune in tomorrow for "Tuesday's Tips for Etsy"!

Sunday Funday

Last night I got not one but 2 custom orders for my Bolero Jacket! I'm so excited to start making them and that also means...A trip to the yarn store! Very dangerous prospect for me, but I'm going to be good and only buy what I need...unless there's a really big sale or something.

I've also started work on a lacy top using recycled yarn! This is a first for me, but I'm really liking the results...and liking the fact that a took an ugly sweater (well, ugly in my opinion) and am turning it into something beautiful (well, beautiful in my opinion...we'll see how it turns out.

Sunday Funday Video!
I'm going to start a new weekly special! The Sunday Funday video! Every week I'm going to try to find something, sometimes old, sometimes new that will put a smile on your face...Here's the first installment:

Fingerless Gloves! ...and a little magic.

Well, I put my newest fingerless gloves up in my shop on Thursday, but because of the whole "Friday's Favorites" thing, this is the first chance I have to tell you guys about them. Unlike the other pair in my shop right now, these one's are crochet...it not only gives them a neat look, but because they're a little faster to make, I can offer them for a bit cheaper (which in this economy is nice).

In magic news: The new trick is coming along nicely. I have also put in an older trick (called the egg bag, if there are any magicians reading this), that I haven't done at the Venetian in a long time. Now my 1 o'clock and 5 o'clock shows are completely different. Not only is this great for the audience (sometimes people come by and stay for all of the shows), but it really keeps me from getting bored.

There's another new one I want to put in soon, but I can't seem to find the book it's in...I think the vortex that is my living room sucked it up into some other dimention.

Friday's Favorites

St. Patty's day is almost here, and here are some great greens to show for it!



Don't forget to check the Tuesday's tips every Tuesday...I'm always discovering some really fun tricks here on etsy!

Books and Favorites Submissions!

First things first! Tomorrow is my weekly feature called "Friday's Favorites" where I put together an etsy mini of some of my favorites from etsy. In honor of St. Patrick's day, I'd like to feature green and I need you to submit your favorite green item in your store! I'll pick eight of them to go on my blog tomorrow!





In other news: I was featured in a treasury with my Shades of the Caribbean Scarf! Go ahead and give it a few clicks and comments...there's some great stuff in there.
















In book news: I just finished reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom. Now I'm about as far from a religious person as you can get, and I was so certain that I wouldn't like it, but I was so wrong...It was a truely beautiful story! There were points where I was actually crying while I read. I think, no matter what religion, or spirituality, that you have, you can't help but be touched by this book.

Getting there...

Well, since I haven't heard anything from the video people, I guess I didn't get the job...filming was supposed to be yesterday. Rejection at this job used to bother me a great deal, but that's mainly what my business is about, so I just move on to the next thing and I try not to think about it anymore.

My boyfriend and I are finally getting better (healthwise, I mean). For about a week, we haven't talked alot because we've been feeling sick and out throats have been hurting, so now that we're better, we can't shut up. I think I'm losing my voice now because we just talked, talked, talked all last night, kind of catching up in a way...It was really cool, and I'm really thankful today that I'm a magician, and not a singer...lol.



In other news: I finished a crochet pair of fingerless gloves yesterday. They turned out pretty cool, but probably won't get listed until at least tomorrow. Now I'm working on a poncho (another crochet item, giving myself a knitting break so to speak). I've made one like this before for myself, so I'm thinking that if I love it, someone else might too!

The socks in the picture are still available at my shop, as well as many other things...go ahead, clicky click...you know you want to!

Tuesday's Tips for Etsy

I have a really early rehearsal today, so the tip will be good, but brief:

Are you in a treasury?:
No longer do you have to scroll through each and every page of a treasury to find out if you are featured. There is a new site called craftopolis.com where you can type your name in and it will show if you are featured anywhere. What a time saver and what fun! Good luck and I hope you guys are featured somewhere!

Here's a shop that should be featured...hint, hint...lol!

Treasuries, Auditions and um something else...oh my!

Good morning!

Yesterday evening I was able to snag a treasury on Treasury West! I'm really excited! So far it's made it to page two when you sort by hotness! If you have the time, I would love it if you could throw a couple clicks and comments my way...It would be awesome to get it to page one!




In other news: I have an audition today for a music video! I'm not a singer, no, but they are looking for a fire eater. I have to go in today and show them my video...I hope they like it. A lot of times I don't get the fire gigs, because even though I eat fire, I don't do the big fire balls (I refuse!) so then I end up recommending someone else.

For those that are curious, my magic website is www.JoanDuKore.com. There's a short little montage video on there which shows some of the fire eating...but please keep in mind, I have not updated the site for over a year (long story), so the upcoming events are reeeeally out of date.

A day of photos

I guess I confused a few of you in the last post...The picture of the sweater was not my new one, nor was it a new photo...It was an example of one of the ones I needed to redo, and (sigh) there were many that needed it.

I took a huge chunk of time yesterday to re-shoot a bunch of items and I got through all but two before I lost steam. So if you take a glance at my shop you might notice that some of the items look different, and hoping much better. There's definitely a learning curve with pictures, and some of my older items just didn't have a photo I was proud of, they were screeming, "I'm ready for my close up Mr. DeMille!" (And yes, I know I aged myself by throwing that in.)

Now, onto some new items!


I added a wrap-around sweater, knit in black that has kind of a lacy look. It's soft and lightweight and great for spring.







And I also added a new entrelac scarf that is knit in what I like to call "shades of the Caribbean" because it reminds me of the ocean over there. In many places it's still very cold, but it's still nice to bring a little summer into a wardrobe, even if it's only in color.

Coming soon!

Yes! The wrap-around sweater is finished! And the new scarf has only a few more rows to go. Today I'm going to be the picture queen...not only photographing the new stuff, but there's a lot of old stuff in my shop (from when I first opened it) whose pictures just aren't quite up to snuff.

My newest mission is: whenever I take pictures of new stuff (and have lugged out all the camera equipment and everything), I'm going to reshoot one of the poor neglected items in my shop...that is until I'm reasonably happy with everything.

In other news: I'm much better now...Though the couch and the TV still becon me, I no longer feel that it's the only thing in life. Also, the cat's breathing is getting better and better...I'm still keeping a close eye on her, but she seems pretty happy and is quite busy doing her kitty cat things.

Friday's Favorites!

First off, I'm so happy that one item from last Friday's Favorites sold!!! For those of you that remember the diamond cut out bracelet, it has now gone to a happy home.

Now for this weeks, I decided in honor of me being sick, and in honor of the hay fever season, I searched all of etsy for some cute tissue boxes! Everyone needs tissues sometimes...why not pretty them up?

Sick

I'm sick today, so tune in tomorrow for your regularly scheduled blog.

I did it!!!

Yes! Yesterday I did it! I finally put a new magic piece in the show at the Venetian. Though I love adding new things to the show, the first day is always the worst...there are the nerves about messing up...worried if the audience will like it as much as I do...and just plain worried in general. After I did it at the one o'clock show, I felt much better and I did it again at the 5 o'clock.

For those magicians reading this, I did my take of the Chinese Sticks...although it seems like it would be an easy trick, to get it really smooth it takes some work. I really fell in love with it because unlike most magic where people think "how did she do that?", it keeps giving the audience answers and then prooves them wrong...quite fun!



In other news: Though I might not finish my sweater this week, there's a good chance that I'll finish my scarf. It's going to be another entrelac piece, similar to the one pictured here, but in light blues and very light greens, kind of a seascape if you will.

Tuesday's Tips for Etsy

Here we go again...another week another tip. This week I decided to focus on blog traffic. I found this neat site where you can submit your blog to "carnivals" and through that hopefully get more readers...and who doesn't want more readers?

The site is called: blogcarnival.com...I hope everyone (including me) has some good luck with it!

In other news: The reading to the children went really well. The kids were all really nice and they all helped me get from classroom to classroom...I would definitely volenteer to do it again next year.

Anyone having a snow day? Click over here to help pass your new found time!

Something Different

Well, Monday has arrived, and from what I here, the East Coast is buried in snow. Instead of feeling bad, though, I wish I were there...bundled up next to a fireplace, watching the flakes fall and knitting away...I'm sure those that are actually there have a very different take on the situation, but you know how it is...the grass is always greener.

Today I'm off to elementary school (no I don't have children), apparently is reading day (I don't know if it's a national thing or just a Vegas thing or what) and I'm going to be reading to some of the classes there...They even let me pick the book...I went with anything Amelia Bedilia (I'm not quite sure how to spell Bedilia and before 8 in the morning I can't be bothered to look it up).

In other news: My boyfriend and I had project night last night, working on one of my props for a new piece. I even got to use the great big metal lathe! I felt very macho! Now I really have to practice it because I so want have my new magic piece ready for my next show at the Venetian.

All that snow! What to do? What to do? Shopping perhaps?

Cool Dudes and Fat Cats...

Actually, there will be no cool dudes in this blog, but the title went so well with fat cats of which there will be a video of one in just a moment.

First things first...I made a sale yesterday, and in honor of that I thought I'd have another sale at All Things Tangled: your one stop shopping for sweaters, scarves, hats, pet clothes and more! 20% off for all of Sunday! Simply type "Sale!" in the buyers comments and I will refund 20% back to you via paypal...and remember, everyday there is free shipping to the US and Canada!

And now for the Fat Cat!