New "Speed Shopping" on Etsy!

The wonderful people over at Etsy have created a fun and fast new way to shop! It is called "Recently Listed Items" and it is sooooo addictive!! Just click the link near the bottom of the front page right above the recently listed items ticker (which seems to be moving faster to accommodate more items, thank you Etsy!). A new page will start filling up with items listed 1 minute ago. So much fun! and you can mouse over any item to see a little bit of detail about it and a bigger picture. This is a great thing for sellers, but even better for buyers. Who doesn't love to speed shop!!
So go check it out! You might discover something you absolutely must have!

www.etsy.com

Window Shopping!

www.handmade.me has a great feature called "window shopping". Members create spotlights with their and other artisans' items (kind of like Etsy's treasuries, but you can use your items too!). Then window shopping shows 9 random items from 9 random spotlights. Cool, huh? Clicking "another" brings up another set of items. I could do this for hours! What a great way to discover wonderfully handmade goods!

Featured Beach-Cocoa Beach Florida

Every once in awhile on here I will feature a beach that I have been to or want to go to in the future. I will tell what I love about it and what there is to do on that particular beach. The first beach I am going to feature is Cocoa Beach Florida. It is located on the Space Coast near Cape Canaveral. This is our "home beach", the one we keep coming back to, because it is a great surfing beach. If you've ever wanted to surf, this is the beach to start out at! there are a number of surf schools here, the best of which is Space Coast Surf Company. The waves are great for beginners and even small ones are surf-able with a long board.
This is also a great beach because of the Cocoa Beach Pier. It was built in 1962 and stretches 800 ft over the Atlantic Ocean. It is home to 5 bars, 4 restaurants, shops and an ice cream parlor with an arcade (which makes a great sub sandwich, go figure)! This makes Cocoa Beach a very active beach, which adds to the atmosphere.
If you are not a surfer, shopper, or hungry for some great seafood, there is sand volleyball, boogie boarding, sandcastle making, shelling, or just plain lazing on the beach!
So take a little trip to Cocoa Beach. A little sun, sand, and surf never hurt anyone!

Sunkissed Sands

I received these wonderful handmade sand beads from my friend Kristin (her Etsy shop is www.PaperMacheBeads.etsy.com) and I just had to make something beachy. I used some juicy orange wood beads, some light green shell beads, and some tiny seashells. Then I used some wire and made a drop pendant by wrapping it around the top of a shell pendant and adding some beads. I call it the Sunkissed Sands necklace. It is so summery!! I just added it to my shop!

Yay! I had a sale!

I am at work on my lunch break today when my husband calls. He says "guess what!". I say "what" (of course) and he says "You sold something today!". How exciting! I have only just decided to have a surf style handmade shop this past month, and it already seems to be coming together. The item I sold, a Riptide hat, (above) had just been listed yesterday! That was quick! So, my fellow Etsy sellers, keep it up! Work on your photos, promote, and find your niche. It works!

p.s. those tiny oranges are S and P, and they were begging to be in the pics!

The Surfer Girl Hat

I finally posted my new hat design on my Etsy shop! It is called "Surfer Girl" because it is something I would wear on a windy day after being in the waves. Surfers often wear beanies, but I wanted to make a more feminine style for the female surfers ( or beachlovers, or anyone with a chilly head). I especially love the shell edging because, well, it makes me think of seashells!
The first one I've listed in my shop is made from 100% wool. It is actually Noro Kureyon yarn, which I am in love with although it is a bit pricey. I believe that people want quality handmade products though, so I really love using high quality materials. I love this color combination, which I call "coquina" because I find these pastel colors in coquina shells all the time. Let me know if you like this style! If you have any colors you think would look good in a Surfer Girl hat, shout them out!

UGH! Sick!

I have been sick for the past 5 days! That in itself is not blog-worthy, but it sucked. What is worth writing about is how wonderful my family is. As soon as my Mom found out I was sick, she and my Dad immediately brought me medicine, tea, and soups and stayed for awhile. Keep in mind I am 29 and married, that's just how awesome they are. Then my wonderful husband kept me fed and made me call into work. He also made me Kool Aid ice cubes! How lucky am I? So being sick made me see once again how blessed I am. Funny, huh?

So now that I'm better I can concentrate on updating my Etsy shop and listing more items. The next items I will be adding to my shop will be my Surfer Girl hats, so keep checking back to see if they are up!