Wholesale..

So I have another potential wholesale or consignment opportunity. I'm a bit more excited about this because it's a local company. I have wholesaled before to a company in Chicago, but this one is only a couple miles from my house. It's a little grooming and boarding facility.

My grandma brought her basset hound mix into the place for a bath and the owner asked my grandma where Lydia (the dog) got her cute collar and leash set It's this set if you're interested Kawaii Skulls Collar which I find funny that my grandma bought that set for her dog. My grandma is in her 70's haha! But anyways, my grandma told her that I make them, and so the owner gave my grandma her card for me to call and talk about selling at her store.

So, all I have to do now is call her! Of course, I hate talking on the phone, but for my business, I think it's worth it. So hopefully it goes well! I prefer selling to the buyer, but I enjoy that stores want to sell my products, it just makes me feel good :)

A small milestone

Today I had a small milestone in my shop... I reached over 100 sales! A little over 7 months and 101 sales, I'm ecstatic :)

Of course with my 3 Etsy shops, I was well over 100, but it is nice to see that big of a number in one of my shops.

So, thanks to all my customers for making my shop a success!

Oh, I love my Chibi..

I just had to share this video of Chibi, one of my chinchillas. Now, Chibi is a very special chinchilla. If you've ever owned a chinchilla, you would know that most aren't exactly the cuddling type. But Chibi loves attention, and she is just such an outgoing chinchilla. She was my first, and made me fall in love with chinchillas. None of my other 4 are quite like her, but that's okay.

Chibi loves being scratched. She looks like she's in heaven and will even raise her little paws so you can reach under them to scratch better.

So, isn't this just the cutest thing??

Something In My Head

Well.. My sister and I had this great idea.. and I've had it in my head to do for quite some time now.

So, be on the look out for something new coming to my Etsy shop soon!

I haven't started them yet.. so it will probably be a couple weeks lol

But here's a clue!

I do too work!

You know what is so annoying to me? When people assume that because I'm self employed and work from home that I don't work! It's so rude for them to say things like that and it annoys me to no end! I've gotten comments from people like "So, still don't have a job huh?" or "Must be nice not having to go to work on Monday." etc. etc.

Sure, I don't put in the normal hours like some people do. But you can bet that I'm here working during the day. I cut fabric out, I sew fleece houses, sew collars and toys, drill wood toy parts, put wood toys together, and much more all in one day. It's not like I'm sitting at home watching tv!

But to prove a point, here's a couple pictures of what my day is like.
First is pictures of my working area. It's nothing too spectacular and is pretty messy right now!
First is where I store some things for my chinchilla site. I've got the lava items, water bottles, and various medical supplies in these bins


Then is my fleece storage


Then my work tables, sorry they're so messy right now! They're from IKEA and I store my wood toy parts in the far left, my flannel and cotton fabrics and webbing in the center and then misc craft supplies on the right.


Then my sewing machine area. Those hanging baskets above the sewing machine are awesome. They're from IKEA as well. And my lobster from Maine watches over my sewing :)


And then some pictures of finished work from today. Obviously not all I did, but just a couple snap shots.
A matching zebra print bed and house for a chinchilla


Then a matching leopard set of a fleece tube, corner house and cuddle buddy for a chinchilla


And finally, a bunch of flavored loofah drying. And yes, it's the loofah that you may use in the shower. But the kind I buy for the chinchillas is natural, unbleached, and then I flavor it with koolaid. The chins love it!


Hope you all enjoyed seeing a bit into my daily work!

The Lila Monster

I didn't include any pictures as examples of why Lila makes me laugh so much, so here's a couple that I've taken of her..

This is her classic demon pose. Don't let the smile fool you, I think she's plotting about eating me. It's even more hilarious when she starts making her demon sounds. They're unlike any normal dog sounds. I can't explain it, it just sounds like a banshee.


Then, this is how Lila likes to sit. Sometimes I'll go downstairs and she won't follow me, so later I look up the stairs and this is how she's sitting. Always with her paws one step down. Never all on the same level.


And then just a cute picture of my poor bored puppy

Funny Dogs

Life with dogs is so funny. I think there's not a day that goes by that I don't laugh at the dogs. This past weekend I spent the weekend alone with the dogs. My parents ride a tandem bicycle and they were at a rally in southern Wisconsin.

So it was just me and the dogs. I'm not quite sure what made the dogs feel differently about this weekend, but Lila was constantly staring at me with her big brown eyes. Then she'd proceed to moan in boredom. It was so funny. I think it's hard to explain if you aren't there, as Lila is a very funny pup.

I think they've got me trained well. I'd let them outside to run around the backyard when they started getting antsy.

But Lila's expressions and just her moaning in boredom is what gets me. She never ceases to make me laugh with her antics.

What happened to Wednesday?

Well, I missed this weeks Etsy feature. Reason being, me and my boyfriend took a trip to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands and I just got back last night.
It was a great trip! We stayed at Custer State Park in one of their new cabins. It was so nice because the cabin had heat which was great at night! They even have air conditioning for in the summer. And our little cabin was right next to a stream with a little waterfall so we got to listen to the water running.
We went and saw Mt. Rushmore, went on the Needles Highway, went fishing, saw a bunch of prairie dogs and buffalo, and saw part of the Badlands. The trip was only 5 days and it takes 9 hours to get there, so we missed out on a lot, but hope to go back soon.
So, here's some pictures from the trip!

Cute one of me any my boyfriend


Our little cabin


Baby Buffalo!


A cute prairie dog looking for food. And this isn't zoomed in at all, she was this close!


At Mt. Rushmore


The little chipmunks loved peanuts! haha


Then one at the Badlands


Hope you like the pictures! I literally have 150 of them, so obviously I can't share them all lol!

We Love Etsy Wednesday

EEeeeeeeeeee!!! I love octopi! Geez, I wish I knew how to knit! Someone make me one for a present!! Pretty please??
This shop is full of knit patterns of awesome animals. These octopi are my favorite. I love octopi, but they have other cool animals like chameleon, seahorses, anglerfish and so much more!
So go check it out!
hansigurumi

And seriously.. I'm crying over here over not knowing how to knit. My birthday is in July.. ;)

My Regal Pup

So... with the prompting of some fellow Etsy friends, I decided to take this hilarious picture of Lila



Doesn't she just look so hilarious? I mean, she looks rather regal, but all the collars around her neck just makes it so funny looking! She looks like one of those women from those tribes that elongate their necks with brass rings.

I'm using this picture right now for my Inu Couture collars which are my designer line made with more expensive fabrics.

She's just so cute I had to share!