Time Marches On

Make sure to enter my big May giveaway! Click here.

Hello out there in blog land. I have not meant to ignore my blog lately, I have just been busy. I actually have a few things to blog about. I have won a few contests, and also received some amazing etsy items!! I am going to try and do a nice post this weekend with pictures and things to show off my new wares :)

I have been working very hard to get my samples ready for the Etsy Texas Promo Swap. A few times a year, some of the members of the Etsy Texas Crafters Team make up samples and promos for their shops, and we send them to one of the team leaders. She then fills boxes and sends us boxes full of promos from other ETC shops. We send them out with our orders. It is really a great project :) The last time I decided to send samples instead of just business cards. It takes a lot of work, but I like doing it.

I have also been busy trying to stock up all three of my shops. We are going to Vermont in August, and I really need to start saving up a "Vermont Fund". I am hoping all of my new creations will inspire sales. So far sales do seem to be picking up :) So after I am done making the sample packs, I am going to get back to work making some new, beautiful items.

Well that is it for now. Like I said, I hope to blog about all of my new Etsy goodies later this weekend!

:w

Make sure to enter my big May giveaway! Click here.

Memorial Weekend Sale

Make sure to enter my big May giveaway! Click here.

Memorial Weekend Sale
22nd-25th at midnight (est)

20% off of all items in all 3 of my shops. Just mention "holiday" when checking out, and I will send you a revised invoice or refund your paypal.

Also all sales in my shops will be entered to win a gift certificate worth $25, which can be redeemed in any of my shops. Every item you buy earns you an entry.

raevyn77.etsy.com handmade jewelry and a ton of new listings!
simplyraevyn.etsy.com - seed bead jewelry. lots of new listings, and a TON of destash
peculiarparchment.etsy.com - handmade cards. Lots of mini thank you cars, tons of new listings!

So come and check it out, and grab some great deals!

Make sure to enter my big May giveaway! Click here.

Chaos!!

Make sure to enter my big May giveaway! Click here.

After a long period of beader's block, I am finally beading again! I was having such a hard time beading, and I am not sure why. I think that the sheer amount of beads I have was overwhelming. So I spent a few days going through my beads. Doing a spring cleaning really. Sorting out the beads that I wanted to destash as well as doing an overall better job of sorting my beads into categories. I went to Wal Mart to buy these really great little Sterilite containers. They are see through and they have an attached lid, and Wal Mart has like 3 different sizes for $1.50 and under. So I bought quite a few of those and sorted my beads into them. I used to just have a huge container where I kept all of my beads that were not seed beads. To put it lightly, I have a ton of beads that fit into this category. So it was just completely overwhelming to look at that container, and I think that was blocking my inspiration. The past few days have been uber productive for me. I have a box full of new pieces ready to photograph. Now I need to figure out a new way to photograph my items. The west Texas wind has been blowing for the last 6 months it seems lol So I have not been able to photograph earrings very well. My fiance built me a lightbox, and I think I am going to take that outside and see if that helps to shield the wind.

We finally have our Vermont vacation planned! I am so excited. We are going on August 4th and coming back on the 18th. I miss my family a lot. So I have started the process of getting my shops ready. There is no way that I will close my shops for those two weeks. So I take all of my inventory. And believe it or not, I actually plan on dramatically increasing my inventory for the trip. Mainly because that will be two weeks of me not listing, and that is just no good for me lol So this "beading burst" I am experiencing is a huge help! I am also in the middle of an enormous batch of cards. To be honest, my beading area and card area both look like absolute disasters! I want to get them organized, but I think the best way to get that done at this point is to continue creating and sorting. Luckily my fiance completely understands! So there is no pressure from the rest of the household to get things put away. I thought I would share a few pics, just to give you all an idea of my chaos lol



So here is my beading space. I apologize for the poor quality of the picture. To put it lightly, it is a disaster lol Keep in mind that the couch is also covered in containers filled with beads.



And here is the card....uhm dining room table lol Under the table there are quite a few containers filled with paper, ribbon and already folded cards.

So as you can see, my two crafting areas are a mess!! We live in a small apartment and my fiance's mother lives with us right now. And to top if off, I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This mess makes me insane. But it is keeping me motivated to keep working! My plan is to get us much made as I can, and then get things sorted and put away. So wish me luck :)

Well as you can all see, I have a lot of work to do lol So I will sign off for now. Make sure to watch my shops for new listings, cause there is a whole lot on the way!! Also don't forget to enter my great May giveaway!

:w

ETC and Mother's Day Sale

ETC and Mother's Day Sale
Ends at Midnight (est)

Well it's the first Monday of May, and that means it is time for the Etsy Texas Team's First Monday Sale! Click here to see the list of amazing sales going on with the Texas sellers :)

And of course, I am having a sale too! Mine is a last minute mother's day sale combined with the ETC First Monday Sale. There is still time! Everything in all 3 of my shops is 25% off. I can send a revised invoice or refund your paypal. I will ship immediately, and I can gift wrap and send directly to mom at no extra cost.
raevyn77.etsy.com
simplyraevyn.etsy.com
peculiarparchment.etsy.com

I have been doing a lot of listing, so please take a peek! All of my sales go towards buying my tickets to VT so I can see my family! We are buying the tickets next week, and I have not seen my family in a year.

Blog Giveaway for May

I decided to base this month's giveaway on my previous post, Some of my favorites - May Edition.

What do you win?
I will be assembling 3 prize package featuring items from all of the shops featured in Some of my favorites - May Edition. I have not figured out exactly which items I will be ordering yet. I will order the items on the 20th, and I will post here exactly what each prize package will consist of. But here is what the prize packages will consist of:

First Place
- $20 gift certificate for SimplyRaevyn/Raevyn77/PeculiarParchment
- atleast $10 worth of items from CountryGirlSpices
- pouch from bagsbytracy
- atleast $10 worth of beads from fivesisters

Second Place
- $15 gift certificate for SimplyRaevyn/Raevyn77/PeculiarParchment
- atleast $5 worth of items from CountryGirlSpices
- pouch from bagsbytracy
- atleast $5 worth of beads from fivesisters

Third Place
- $10 gift certificate for SimplyRaevyn/Raevyn77/PeculiarParchment
- atleast $3 worth of items from CountryGirlSpices
- pouch from bagsbytracy
- atleast $3 worth of beads from fivesisters

How to Enter

Visit the shops featured in Some of my favorites - May Edition.
The shops are:
fivesisters
CountryGirlSpices
bagsbytracy
Then leave a comment here showing your favorite items from each shop. You can earn 1 entry for each shop you leave a comment about.

*Earn 1 bonus entry: Sign up for my newsletter. I use the newsletter to keep you aware of special sales going on, blog contests, etc. I will not abuse the list to spam you all of the time, and I will not share your email address with anyone. Just click here to sign up. You don't have to come back and comment that you joined the mailing list.

*Earn 2 bonus entries: Blog about this giveaway! Then come back here and leave a comment with a link to your blog post.

*Earn 3 bonus entries: Make a purchase from any of the shops featured in theSome of my favorites - May Edition. Again, the shops are:
fivesisters
CountryGirlSpices
bagsbytracy
Come back here and leave a comment with the link to your transaction. You can do this once for each of the featured shops.

*Earn 5 bonus entries: Make a purchase from any of my three shops:
Raevyn77
SimplyRaevyn
PeculiarParchment
Come back here and leave a comment with the link to your transaction.

This contest is open to everyone, you do not have to be in the US to enter. May 31st will be the last day to enter, and I will draw the winner on June 1st.

*********

This is a big contest, with lots of chances to earn entries. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me. Good luck everyone!

Some of my favorites - May Edition

So I was sitting here debating whether I should be blogging, or shopping. So I figured, why not do both! I shop A LOT on Etsy, and I want to share some of my favorite shops with you. So here goes!

fivesisters

Since I make so much jewelry, I spend a whole lot of time hunting for great beads. I recently came across fivesisters. I oohed and aahed over the inventory, but I have had enough experience to know that I need to check out the product before getting my hopes up. So I searched through the gorgeous selection and settled on one item to take a test drive with.

I decided to order the assortment of 14mm large, puffy Czech rondelles. Check them out in this picture, and I think that you will see why!

So I placed my order and eagerly awaited my goodies! And when they got here, WOW! They were absolutely gorgeous. Since then I have ordered a few other times from fivesisters, and I have never been disappointed. An amazing inventory and great prices make shopping at fivesisters fun, and I know I will be a long time customer of theirs!

Etsy Buy Handmade fivesisters

CountryGirlSpices

To be honest, CountryGirlSpices is not the type of shop I would think to look for online. I am a bit of a spur of the moment spice buyer. But I decided to try out CountryGirlSpices, and now I am hooked! The first thing that caught my eye was her cat nip. I also ordered quite a few other items such as her sea salt, steak seasoning, and cumin. I am totally addicted to her spices now, they really add something special to my recipes. And my cats...lets just say that if I do not keep up with their catnip supply from CountryGirlSpices, I am quite sure they will move up their plans to assassinate me in my sleep lol.

Etsy Buy Handmade CountryGirlSpices

bagsbytracy

To put it simply, I love this shop! A few months ago I had ordered messenger bag from Tracy. As a matter of fact, the bag that she ended up making was the exact one shown in the Messenger Bag listing. And I love it! I use it all of the time. It has very quickly become my mail bag. I pack orders and put them in the bag until I can get to the post office. It is very roomy, and if you have a custom bag made, Tracy has a huge selection of fabrics to choose from that really make the bag yours.

Etsy Buy Handmade bagsbytracy

Well those are a few of my favorite shops. I will be doing this feature once a month. Stay tuned!

Blog Contest Winner

Well it is time to wind up another contest. This time there were 41 entries, wow! Once again I used the Custom Random Number Generator. And the winner of the $20 gift certificate that can be used in any of my shops is lolo!! Congratulations lolo :)

I will be posting a new giveaway today, and I am working on a really great one. So stay tuned!!!