Monday, September 22, 2008

The Results Are In...

and none of our picks got picked. :(
No Etsy shopping spree for these gals. All those wishes will have to be relegated to some other special event, or some other magical influx of cash.

But we pride ourselves on our unique tastes and anti-mainstream style, so here we present our winners of the Etsy Handmade Kids Challenge.

Drum roll please...

In the Accessories category, 1st place (naturally) goes to the Cabbage Rose Cap. A close second goes to fairytalefibers for their little Adventure Hood.
Not only because the picture is awesome, but because this is like seven accessories in one. Click the cutie to check it out.

On to Furniture:

I chose, because it has that antiquey-type rag-tag beauty that I fall for every time, this childs chair by The Pink Chicken Trading Co.: Although if I were to buy one myself, I think I'd choose the rocking version. Perfect for the porch.

In the Eco-Friendly category, after our Jewel Beetle, which is quite possibly as eco-friendly as a shirt can be, I'd have voted for these shoes by frostingcouture which are now on sale!!


In Art, we'd have to be true to our school, as it were, and vote for Amy's fellow 1st grader, berkleyillustration's portraiture, which is witty and whimsical and worthy of at least $8.
Since I love me some themes, my pick for clothing comes very close to beating our own Hand-Stitched Guitar Tank, but even at second, it's probably my favorite article of children's clothing of all time, HarmonyWear's Lux Tux Dress.
Maybe someday I'll be able to execute half of those techniques with my sewing machine, but until then, hats off!!

In Toys, I liked the Nightmare Snatcher Journal

partly because it reminds me of the Muppet Show, and partly because it has the potential to save the day, er night, if you needed it.


In Home Decor, the only thing that moved me was inklore's description of the 1-2-3 growth chart.
I remember thinking the day I voted that it's shameful that I haven't marked my kids' height on anything since Mazzy was three and Eden has been standing, so this struck me as particularly useful.

Well, there they are. The real winners in my book. To see who really won, lucky bastards, click here.

And thank you to all 707 of you Etsians who voted for us. We love you, too.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Price Is Right

We've gone back and forth and back again over the issue of pricing in our shop. We wanted to keep our products within reasonable reach of people like us, who have an eye for original style but limited jingle in their jeans. So for the past year we've made our profit margin pretty slim. Very slim, for certain items.

We simply remind ourselves that it takes a while to get noticed, to gain a following, and for that time we've put in lots of hours of designing, sewing and knitting for free.

But, wait, aren't we against low-wage labor?

Mama needs to bring home a little bread to add to daddy's bacon, right?

So, after much deliberation, we've raised the prices of three (just three) of our items to what they're really worth. It's not much, $5 here, $10 there, but it makes a big difference for us. We figure it's better to raise a few prices a few bucks than to lower our standard of originality and quality.

All that hand stitching takes time, after all. Time that we'd like to be paid a little for.

Just a little.

To all our faithful supporters and past customers, congratulations on the discount and thank you for your continued support and understanding.

To all our new and future customers, we'll make it worth it for you.

Oh, and by the way, have you checked out Eden in our new Toadstool Tee?!!

Holy cute!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Baking Bread

We just started homeschooling at our house and our first lesson was baking bread from scratch.


It turned out to be an all day affair because of all the rising time. We filled the hours of waiting with stories, songs and of course playing Nancy Drew.

The bread was finished just in time to dip in our soup for dinner.
Mmmmmm. I feel so wholesome.