round up: adorable illustrations.

Lately, for whatever reason, I've had the uncontrollable desire to draw. The biggest problem I'm facing is that I'm horrible at it. I was actually improving quite a bit while I was taking a drawing class for school but it's been a little while and I'm rusty. One thing I've always struggled with is drawing people.

There are so many artists on Etsy that I'm truly inspired by. I'm hoping with a lot of practice and some imagination I can somehow get even a little bit close to their abilities.

{pop pop portraits}
{nan lawson}
{katep}
{honeycup}
dazeychic
ashleyg

Happy Wednesday Everyone!!!

a must see: flourish leather.

When I found out that Danielle from sublime lite was opening an Etsy shop, Flourish, I got very excited. She is an extremely creative and stylish lady so I knew whatever it was going to be, it was going to be wonderful. I was in awe of how wonderful her shop looked when it opened. Danielle’s product photos are effortless and wonderful and show exactly what the products are, her leather bracelets as so simple yet so stunning.

I waited by my mailbox patiently for my little package to arrive, when it did I couldn’t have been more tickled. It was one of the cutest packages I’ve received. I personally love the way they recycled the packaging. It fits really well with the style of these lovely bracelets and really shows them off.


The qualities of these little beauties are wonderful. I’m actually still scratching my head as to how they are made. They are really perfect for summer, not to mention they are a great deal! They start at only $5!! I think she is shorting herself! You just don’t find handmade leather items with this much thought and care put into them for that price. I strongly suggest getting more than one because they look super cute together.



I’m so happy for Danielle, she’s doing really well! Her Etsy shop is blossoming and have I mentioned how much I love her blog? Her photos and content are really inspiring to me. I love seeing that she has a new post up; I’m always intrigued to see what she has photographed next.


Cheers to Danielle in everything she is doing! Go visit her shop and blog and say hello!

my first trade.

I was so excited when Ashley from after nine to five wanted to do an accessory trade from The Bartering Blogger. I love her jewelry and I've been admiring her littl "Capture the Moment" camera necklace for a long time. I was able to trade my Rainbow Flower Hair Comb for this lovely little darling.

The hair comb I sent to Ashley.


I just love this little beauty!

I put it on as soon as I got the package. I was still in my PJs but I didn't care. I've been wearing it everyday since. It's a constint reminder of how much photography means to mean. It almost doesn't seem fair that I only traded one of my hair combs for this beauty. I don't think you can image how much it means to me.

I'm so excited for Ashley, she just opened her very own Shop and is stepping out away from the world of Etsy with her original products and some new goodies as well. You really have to stop by and see what she has. It was a pleasure doing this trade with her.

Thanks again, Ashley!

My Little Birthday GIVEAWAY!

Well, this week is my Birthday and I wanted to make it something special. A lot of wonderful bloggers out there have been doing really amazing Birthday Giveaways so I decided to jump on the bandwagon. It’s not as extravagant as some, but I hope you like it.

Prizes:


One custom made hair clip.
I love to do custom orders and I’m going to be offering them on a more regular basis in my Etsy shop. I really enjoy making something when I have a specific person in mind. As I’m making it I can see them wearing and it makes me smile. I think some of my best hair pieces have come from custom works. I would love to make a piece just for you! You can name the color, size, and even type of flower and I will do my best to make your vision come true.


One custom made button necklace.
I didn’t think just one prize was good enough for my birthday. I would also like to make the winner a custom color button necklace. Because buttons come in so many colors and sizes I can make a verity of creations. I can even whip up something with a fabric button. You pick it and I’ll create it.


How to enter:Everyone is welcome to enter the giveaway! All you have to do is leave a comment with your favorite birthday memory and your e-mail address. It’s as easy as that!

Some of my favorite birthday memories are when I used to have cake fights with my two best friends. Nothing like icing to really condition the hair.


Other ways to enter:
- Follow my blog via Google connect located in the right column of my blog and leave a comment.
- Follow my blog via bloglovin’ and leave a comment.
- Tweet about this giveaway using @withchancesof in the tweet and leave a comment.
- Heart my Etsy shop and/or your favorite item and leave a comment.
- Blog about this giveaway and leave a comment, if you choose to blog about this giveaway you will receive two chances to win these prizes!

Giveaway starts Monday May 23, 2011 at 9:00 AM AZ Time and will end on my birthday Wednesday May 25, 2011 at Midnight.

There’s not much time so don’t forget to entry!

Have a great week!! <3

sweet hummingbird.

A little while ago we set up a hummingbird feeder on our patio. In our apartment complex there are a bunch of different hummingbird families living in the trees. I was actually able to see some baby hummingbirds in a nest, so cute! I've always loved hummingbirds but in Pittsburgh their extremely rare to see. It's said that if you see a hummingbird its good luck. Living here must be really lucky because I get to see them all the time.

I love how tough and protective they are. If another bird comes into their tree they go crazy. It doesn't matter how big the other bird is, they attack. I love watching these sweet little creatures dive bomb big black birds casing them away from their nest. One of our neighbors even named one of the little guys Scrappy because he'll fight anything that comes near his area.

So, without further delay here are some of my favorite hummingbird finds on Etsy.

{MaiAutumn}

{CuctusHugger}

{afterninetofive}

{poordogfarm}

{imagoDRIFT}

Also, I wanted to thank everyone for their nice comments and concerns about our little flooding incident. We should be all back in to our apartment today. I don't think Aurora's room is going to be ready to move back into yet but we can't stay another night in a hotel. She's really enjoyed the sleep overs she's been having with mommy and daddy. We've been really lucky to be in such a nice hotel. I can't wait to tell you all about it, that post is in the works with lots of pictures. We are also looking into specialty dog crates for Piston as well some new training. He's such a good dog... until we leave him alone. We'll get him there. Thanks again!

Feeling nostalgic...

For balloons and umbrellas.


{Coocachoo}
{sublimelite}


I just thought I’d share...


{liliFunambule}

{rain}


Happy Wednesday!

So, you opened an Etsy shop...?

I’ve been thinking about what steps to take next with my Etsy shop. Opening an online shop and getting those first few sales can be very exciting. So… now what? What’s up next for my little endeavor? I think May is going to be a very good month, at least I hope.

My journey:

1) Attended two events in front of the Butter Toast Boutique that were a big success.
2) Worked on photos and descriptions for my Etsy shop.
3) Created and shipped out my first official custom order.
4) Finally opened up shop! Yay!
5) Had my first two sales and successfully shipped them out.
6) Got great advice from fellow sellers that I couldn’t be more thankful for.
7) Listed new items and started creating new work.
8) Relisted.
9) ???


For the very first time I have decided to sponsor another blog. My shop ‘with a chance of’ will be sponsoring the curious pug. I’m really very excited about the whole thing. I know that it will totally be worth it and I can’t wait to see what the outcome will be.



I’ve been slowly but surely adding new items to my shop. You’ve probably seen my necklaces, hair clip, and combs soon I hope that I’ll have a whole new line of products to add.



I also have another little surprise for May, but you’ll just have to wait and see what it is.

I also feel like my blog is seriously lacking direction. I want to rework it a lot and get it more focused. I've been postin A LOT but I feel like my posts are lacking something. I want to put more effort into my posts like I used to do. I feel sometimes I just crank and bunch of posts out just to post. I'm really going to work on the quility of my posts, not just quantity. I'm thinking about even breaking my blog into two on that is personal and one for my Etsy shop. Who knows though! I have a lot to think about!

Do you have any new plans for your blog or shop? Any suggestions for me? You know I’m always up for good ideas!

blog love weekly v4.0

{blog}{etsy}{twitter}
This week for Blog Love Weekly I want to first take you to an up and coming and very beautiful blog, Elegant Girl. Erin is a sweet heart and I love her blog and ideas. She does the most amazing art in upcycled spoons. Her necklaces are stunning pieces of work and they come in all styles. Erin has a definite passion for her work and for her blog and it shows in each in of her blog posts. She is rapidly growing into a very inspiring and successful Etsy seller and is someone you really need to check out.


{blog}{art}{knit}{photography}
Next is a blog I just recently began to revisit on a regular basis. I want to follow so many blogs sometimes I get wrapped up in others and forget about some I’ve found that are really great. Rachel from Talk 2 the Trees is really a multitalented artist. Her photography is really inspiring to me; I’ve always enjoyed viewing the great images she posts on her blog. I just discovered that she does photography as a business, doing portraits, weddings as well as other events. On top of that she also has truly beautiful art work and knit wear. Her hats are so adorable! She has so much creativity in one person it’s so inspiring that she can do all the things she does and be successful.

Have you fallen in love with any blogs lately? Please share! I love finding new bloggers.

have you tumbled in the cool moon light?

Recently I'm become addicted to tumblr. I saw that Merry May had one and I just started using mine to collect images I've found across the web that really inspire me. There are also some really fun and interesting blogs out there in tumblr land.

Here are some of my favorite images I've shared so far:

{source}

{source}

This image is from an amazing Ghost Adventures tumblr I just discovered, hipsterghostadventures. You might have to be a fan to really understand, but it is such an amazing image and blog.

my little inspirations^my tumblr^

So, do you tumble? I'd love to follow and share with you!

a little update vlog hello!

I wanted to talk about so many great things that I decided it needed to be a vlog not a blog post. So, last night, Aurora helped me do a little video to say thank you (again) and show off some of the new stuff and what's going on. It ended up being a funnier to me than informative, but that's okay.


Things I mentioned:- My Etsy Shop.- Mr. Carlton Huebert Hopsalot.- Blog Love Weekly.

One thing that I wanted to talk about but got distracted was about my photojournalism class. This quarter I am going to be going a project focused on the oh so wonderful Butter Toast Boutique. Traci has been kind enough to let me come to the shop on a semi weekly basis for the next couple of weeks and take photos for my class. I'm really excited because I'm hoping to also get a great interview with Traci and Jasmine all about them and the boutique to share with you guys. So stay tuned because there is loads more coming in the future!

Have an amazing weekend!

blog love weekly V1.0

I really wanted to do a blog post of all the blogs I absolutely adore, and then I realized that there are so many amazing blogs other there that I couldn’t do just one blog post! So I decided that once a week I would feature two blogs that I love and couldn’t live without! I can’t even begin to tell you how much this blogging community has meant to me. I am a total hermit (trying to work on that) but I’ve met some wonderful people through blogging and also have had some amazing opportunities. The blogs I’m going to be featuring are in no particular order, I couldn’t pick favorites anyways. Each blog is just as unique as the beautiful person behind it.

{Grin & Bear It}
First of is Heidi from Grin & Bear It. I love this blog because it gives a really fun look at her life and you really get to know her as a person, I think blogs like that are great. She’s funny, and completely sincere about everything. She is also doing a series called “Weigh in Wednesday” that’s really inspiring. It’s hard to get fit and stay in shape and it’s nice to see her honesty about losing weight and working out. Let’s face it, no one wants to be on a diet and work out day after day. Did I mention she has an adorable Etsy shop? I, amazingly, won her most recent giveaway, and I feel so lucky! She’s been so supportive of me and my little endeavors, commenting on my posts and encouraging me to start and Etsy business. I’m blessed to know her, even if its via cyber space, you should get to know her too!


{the merriweather council}

Next is the lovely Danielle from the merriweather council. Talk about a girl who is honest! Wow. That’s why I love her blog, some of my favorite posts of hers are simple and straight forward like How to Be a Superstar on Etsy and Elsewhere I read that post and had to smile. I don’t think I can visit her blog without smiling. The best part about Danielle is she is completely willing to give advice and help if you really want it. She gave me some really helpful advice for my Etsy shop and I couldn’t be more excited to put it into play. She is a very successful Etsy business owner, so any advice from her is gold. I personally think she is an amazing artist. She has such patients for her art. I can only image how long one of her wishbone embroidery pieces takes her to make. I think her colors and textures are simply gorgeous! Don’t believe me? Go check out her Etsy!

Can’t wait to share more blogs with you! I can’t use the word thank you enough. I’m overly excited about everything right now. I mean remember, I am a cheeto.

Do you have a favorite blog that I need to see? Please share it! I love finding new reads!

first offical custom order.

I created, packaged, and sent my very first custom order. I’ve made custom items for my friends and family before, but never for someone I’ve just meet. I was really excited about the whole thing. This awesome young man was at First Friday while I was set up outside of the Butter Toast Boutique and commented that he liked my button necklaces. He just wished the chains were longer and the pieces were larger. I assured him it would be no problem for me to make him exactly what he wanted.

This was defiantly a learning experience for me. Although I was kind of stressed out about making sure it was what he wanted it was fun to make something with someone in mind. I could picture in my head what he would look like wearing it, and it made it a little simpler to make. I also learned that I totally under charged for the piece. I am not going to make a big deal about it at all. I’ve never made a piece like it before so I was unsure of the cost of materials, lesson learned! Next time I’ll know better.

For some reason I had a lot of trouble taking a decent picture of this lovely necklace. I probably should have waited for better lighting.

I’m really happy with the way it came out. His idea was great and I’m so glad I could create it for him. It’s nice to sort of “collaborate” with other creative people ever once in a while.

Etsy Shop Grand Opening!

The moment is finally here. My Etsy shop is finally open and I have listed my first offical items. I'm excited for the future of this shop. The floral hair clips and pins are just the beginning. I can't wait to share the rest of my ideas and items with everyone!

Thanks everyone for your support and smiling a nodding through all of my talk about opening this shop. It's been a long time coming and I don't expect it to be a success over night I'm just extremely excited I finally got over my anxiety and opened up shop!

So, now that I'm open, what do you think? You know how I feel about feedback! The more the marrier!

Have a great day everyone, thanks again!

wishlist.

I’m not really a person that buys a lot of stuff. If I do get a few extra dollars I usually spend it on crafty supplies or taking my daughter to lunch. Sometimes I really want to splurge on myself though! There are so many amazing things out there that I’ve had my eye on and dreamed of longingly.

This lovely little camera necklace from afterninetofive I think is going to be my celebration present for when I make my first Etsy sale. I have to reward myself for a job well done right? ^_~


I have had my eye on this Hanson shirt since I saw it at the last concert I went too. If you didn’t know Taylor is a pretty darn good photographer, hence the camera. Not to mention it’s my favorite color!

I’ve been attempting and failing to play the guitar for years now. I thought maybe starting out smaller would be easier. I think playing the ukulele would be awesome! It’s travel size and I could bring it anywhere with me!

One of Jo Totes camera bags? Hm, YES! and PLEASE!!!

Since I bought my first vintage camera I’ve been wanting to get my hands on an instant Polaroid one. I love everything about Polaroid’s! I wouldn’t even care if it was a really ugly camera, as long as it still worked!

The last thing on my list has been on my mind for some time. I’ve been dabbling in Digital Painting for a little while and well, I’m horrible at it, but I love to do it. I would love, love, love A Bamboo pad! I think this would make doodling so much fun and easy! I have so many ideas for digital illustrations in my sketchbook just waiting to get on my computer screen.

That’s about it. If I ever stop spending my money and save it maybe I’ll fulfill my wish list. Yeah, maybe someday!

What’s on your wish list?

journey to etsy: photography.

Well if you've looked for any kind of advice on Etsy one of the first things you'll hear about is having good photographs. There are a ton of people out there that have online shops, and as much as we would hope to be unique, a lot of them are selling the same exact thing. So, what is going to draw a customer to your shop over others? Photographs.

I'm not going to lie; I'm not an avid online shopper. I like to see, touch, and even smell what I'm going to be buying before I buy it. So I want to make sure my photos highlight my products as much as possible for an online shopper. You'd think for a photography major that this would be easy, not so much. I'm still just learning, and I'm a perfectionist when it comes to my photos. Thanks to some advice from two other wonderful bloggers and Etsy seller; Ashley and Chrissy, I decided just to go with it. I'm going to roll with what I've got and just keep perfecting my photos as I go. I can't hurt to change things up and relist on Etsy right?

Etsy Shop Photo Preview.





+++++++

I also discovered two tutorials that I think are really going to help me the next time around.
Ashley from After Nine to Five recommend that I build a lightbox for my photos. I think this is going to be really useful and I'm going to be taking tips from her tutorial over on her blog. {Thanks again!!!}

Maryam from Pamplemousse! also did a great blog guest post on how to Etsy photography. The tutorial is over at The Art of Staying Up All Night and it is really helpful.

Well, I guess that's that! If you have any advice or know of any good tutorials on photographing products please let me know! Or, if you want any advice or critique, I'm still learning but I can help some, right? I can't help it, I love to help!

Now, go take some pictures! ^_^