Nail Polish Obsession

I came across a blog called My Simple Little Pleasures by a super talented lady named Colette. I was instantly inspired by her nail art and the array of beautiful colors and impressive patterns. She also introduced me to something I had never even heard of before. She often uses a technique called marbling which is amazing and I have yet to try it on my nails but wow! I love it!

So with a bit of inspiration to guide me, I've picked up painting my nails regularly since it's fun again. I also discovered Konad stamps via Colette's blog. This product may be old news to a lot of ladies but it was all new to me! I ordered a stamper and a stamping plate off of eBay and got to work. All I can say is that this has to be the coolest nail art tool ever invented. I've only tried a few manicures but I get tons of compliments on them. Here are a few that I have done in the past couple of weeks. (Pardon the poor photo quality... the pics were taken at random using my cell phone!)





I only have one plate so far... the Konad Plate M57. I absolutely LURVE the zebra and leopard print! I wish I had taken a picture of my leopard mani but I neglected to do so. But I will say metallic hot pink, black, and silver make a great combo! Here's the plate of awesome awesomeness...



So that's my new obsession for the moment. I've even ordered more plates and I can't wait for them to arrive so I can try them all out. So until next time, happy crafting (or polishing)!

Some Great News!

It's kind of late considering it's been over 2 months since it happened but I have an important announcement to make. On November 11, 2010 my better half, Pete, popped the question. Not just any question, but THE QUESTION! After a wonderful 5 and 1/2 years, we finally got engaged!

Pete wanted the proposal to be a surprise even though we've been talking about getting married for a couple of years now so he got creative and here is how I found my engagement ring!


(You can read our proposal story here for all the little details)

I'm really excited and can't wait to be Mrs. Caprara but for now, we have this whole wedding thing we have to figure out. Lucky for our wallets, I think I'll be a DIY kind of bride which means a lot of new projects over the coming year!



Until next time, happy crafting!

Selling on Etsy

I love Etsy. I can spend hours browsing the beautiful art work and kitschy creations. I've bought a fair share of things from some very talented people. Most of my purchases are things that I can't make on my own or it's something that just amused me to death.

But now I'm trying to venture into becoming a seller, not just a shopper. The competition is fierce. Some sellers have turned their Etsy shop into a full time gig. They advertise online through blogs, Facebook, Twitter... you name it. They devote hours upon hours to their artwork and crafts. I want to be one of them. I just have this whole 40+ hour a week job thing I have to deal with.

I tried once before about a year ago. I make greeting cards for coworkers birthdays and everyone has always really liked them. I started getting special requests and before you know it, I was turning out orders for 100+ wedding invitations. I had a boost of confidence in my talents and decided to sell my wares on Etsy. I listed about 50 cards and managed to sell two of them. It wasn't a successful venture to say the least.

After looking at the tons and tons of the paper crafts I was in competition with, it's obvious that the card market is a wee bit over-saturated on Etsy. I've noticed that the successful sellers were full time wedding invitation producers or they work with antique and custom letterpress. Neither of which I have the time or resources for.

I've decided to give it a second go but instead of selling exclusively cards, I thought it would be a good idea to "branch out" so to speak. I've picked up jewelry making (which I LURVE!!) and I'm starting to dabble in fabric and sewing some. I also figure that it would be a good way to liquidate a bunch of the jewelry and flowers piling up around my bedroom. My re-vamped shop now contains items from all of my crafting obsessions.

I really hope to have better luck selling this time around and so far things are looking positive. I've already had a request for a custom order and I've only have my new items listed for a few days. Definitely a good sign!