Bye Bye Printful

 If anyone has been wondering how the Printful experiment went, well, it was ok. I have to say I had zero issues with the products themselves, they were very good quality and the print quality was also great. 

My issue was, and maybe it was just because of the kind of Etsy store I have, is that it didn't really fit in what I was looking for. My profit margin just wasn't there and I know I'm not alone. If you start off with a shirt that costs $13 and add in shipping, that shirt is costing you at minimum $17, say you are selling the shirt for $22-$25, your profit is less than $10 per shirt. Where as I can get a blank shirt from All Day Shirts for less than $2 each, cut out my own design from my vinyl stash for less than $1 and all of the profit is mine.

I don't sell a lot of shirts or physical products anymore anyway so losing the POD (Print on Demand) part of my Etsy won't hurt my sales much. In fact, my plan is to take the designs that I did have on Printful, redo and revamp some of them so they are SVG's and sell those. That way I can share my designs with other crafters and not have any of the overhead once the design is complete.

 

Blog Redesign!

 It's been a long time, but I finally redesigned the blog! I have wanted to do it for years, but like anything that is for myself I was being too picky and indecisive so I just put it off. And finally after the dumpster fire of a year that was 2020, I decided that I wouldn't put it off any longer and did the redesign for this year.

I used elements I downloaded from Creative Fabrica for the font and the graphic elements. I ended up making some adjustments but overall I'm really happy with the new, simple, elegant look. I will be uploading new designs to the shop soon, but my design time has been cut down with having the kids home doing virtual school. 

Creative Fabrica

Disclaimer: This is an affiliate post, which means that if you purchase any products or sign up for a subscription using my links, I will receive money for it.

 But this post has some cool stuff in it. because recently I have discovered Creative Fabrica! This amaaazing website has literally tens of THOUSANDS of Fonts, Graphics and Craft files for you to choose from.

This is my absolute favorite font right now, i love glitter 

I am an All Access Subscriber, which means that I pay a monthly fee to access all of the fonts, graphics and craft files. They also have daily freebies and fantastic bundle packages that can contain hundreds of files. 

The best part is they all come with Commercial licenses. So if you are using fonts to make SVG files or any projects for sale, you can do so without worry about Copyright issues. 

Here is my Affiliate Link, if you click through and decide to subscribe please do so using my link.

Thank you!

DIY Masks!

Hello everyone! I hope you are all staying safe! I wanted to show a step by step guide of how I make my face masks.

The pattern I used can be found here at Hello Sewing I will note that in the pattern is says to do a 1/2" seam allowance, this ended up being too much and the masks were coming out too small so I have been doing 1/4" for all seam allowances. I also printed the template out on cardstock in each size so I could have them available when I needed them. 

Ok so let's get started. So in this first photo I have the two pieces of fabric for the inner layer, pretty sides together ready to sew. 

and we're ready to sew our first seam.

 

Here is the first layer sewn together, then I trimmed the excess fabric.

 

In this step I folded down about 1/4" from the open edges and sewed down a straight line.

 

Here are the outer layers ready to sew, as always, pretty sides together.

                                                  

Here are those layers sewn together and the excess trimmed.

                                                 

Now, put both pretty sides together, line them up and clip. Sew down the straight edge first and then do the curved part. 

This is everything sewn together.

Trim the excess and turn the mask right side out.

Run a top stitch down the top and bottom of the mask

                                                  

Top stitching is complete! Almost done I promise!

Fold over the extra on the edges to make the sleeves for the straps.

Sew the straps into place.

You are finished!

Another tip was I used my Cricut Mini Press to help with cutting and pressing the lines so I didn't have my bigger iron to deal with. Once the pattern is cut and you get used to making them you can finish a mask in under 30 minutes. I have made over 100 of them so far and and going to need to replenish my fabric stash when this is all over. (oh and I did my own nails during Quarantine using a Polygel nail kit from Amazon, I didn't go to a salon!)

Happy Crafting!

Holiday Crafts!

This Holiday Season I was pretty busy with my Air Explore 2. Once I got my Cricut Easy Press out of the box and was brave enough to try it, I fell in love with using Heat Transfer Vinyl and I'm so happy that I have branched out into making different things.


This year my best sellers were the Christmas Elves and Moose from the Dollar Tree. Throw on some HTV to personalize and they were a huge hit.

Another set of really popular items were the customized pot holders and cutting boards. (Also from the Dollar Tree!)

I also made Santa Cams- which were made from Nightlights from the Dollar Tree and cell phone wide lenses also from, you guessed it, the Dollar Tree. Then I used Extreme glitter Mod Podge on the backs of the nightlights to add some sparkle and to cover the scratches that are on them. You can also use frost spray but I didn't like how they came out. Then I just added a small vinyl decal and a tiny rhinestone to look like a Record light. I love how they came out and they were a hit too.

Buffalo Plaid was everywhere this year, including the Dollar Tree, they had these adorable faux fur topped stockings that were perfect for personalization.

Acrylic ornaments were something else that I really enjoyed making this year, I made dozens of them with names, images and they were a little challenging because they are so small but the finished product came out really pretty.

I also made some Teacher/Bus Driver appreciation gifts for my girls and their teachers and the Bus Driver/Montior enjoyed them.

And of course BOWS!

Happy Crafting!

Bows!

So as if it isn't glaringly obvious, I have severely neglected this blog. I always have the best of intentions to keep writing and keep it updated but life gets in the way and I'm just bad at it.
I won’t be making anymore promises of more frequent updates but I will post when I can here and I have been a bit more active on Instagram and Facebook.

For Mother’s Day this year my wonderfully sweet husband bought me a Cricut Air Explore 2! It took me a bit to bust it out and start crafting but I have made lots of items so far and now that he also gave me an Easy Press I can start making items with Heat Transfer Vinyl. I am so excited for all of the possibilities! One of the other projects I just discovered is Hair Bows!

They are so fun and easy to make I am addicted, for now I’m starting with Halloween bows but I also have my eye on some other holiday patterns as well as mermaid and unicorn bows!
The items I used are Faux Leather sheets from amazon, there are a TON of options to pick from but these are my favorite brand.
You also need alligator or French hair clips and of course your hot glue gun.
You will also need a template to cut out your bows. There are a bunch in Etsy or if you’re feeling creative you can make your own!
Oh and I also made the display cards using a template I purchased here and some card stock! So easy and fun!

Happy Crafting!

Sprinkled Heart Sack Hat Pattern

         Hello everyone! I am trying to post more this year so I am starting off with a new pattern from me! I have made this ADORABLE sack hat in 5, yes FIVE sizes. From little bitty baby heads to big noggins, I got you covered.

     The easiest part of this hat believe it or not are the little hearts! With your main color on your hook, insert your hook, yarn over with your accent color, close out the stitch with the main color. That's it! Nice and easy! What's not easy for me was deciding how I was going to carry my yarn. This is a personal preference and you can do it however you're comfortable. You can either carry it UNDER your stitches and tuck the yarn in-
Pros- No yarn hanging out on the inside of the hat

Cons- You can see it through the stitches
-This drives me crazy so I went with option B.
Carry the yarn OUTSIDE of the stitches, this will cause yarn to hang on the inside of the hat, but I don't mind it much. it's the inside of the hat so I don't think it's a big deal, plus you can always go up a hook size and line with fabric.
Also, Pom Poms. yarn ones, fur ones, tassels, I would love to see people's projects with these added embellishments!

You can find the pattern either on Etsy or Ravelry

Happy Crafting!

Happy New Year and the Canyon Slouchy Hat

     Happy New Year Everyone!! I don't know about you but I am delighted to say goodbye to 2018 and welcoming 2019 with open arms. I had lost my craft-jo for a while and I'm happy to say it is back.
  A few weeks ago I was browsing my favorite crochet group on Facebook and stumbled upon this gorgeous brown slouchy hat. It had texture and personality, and the designer was looking for testers! I crossed my fingers and applied to be a tester, once accepted I'm pretty sure I started working on it right away. I had the first hat done in a couple hours and I was quite literally hooked on this pattern. Since I have made about 5 of them and plan on many more.

       The pattern is paid, but is well worth it. I have already sold one of them and it has paid for itself. I made the purple one from a Caron Chunky Cupcake  it doesn't have the same drape as the lighter yarns but it is still adorable and my kids love them, plus they come with their own coordinating pom poms so I couldn't pass up that sale at Michael's. The teal hat was made with Red Heart Super Saver Ombré yarn, and the oatmeal color is Vanna's Choice in Wheat. This one was super soft and one of my faves, I gave it as a Christmas gift and was sad to see it go but I will be making myself one to keep!

   The designer of this beautiful hat (and many other lovely designs) is Amber from Heartfully Stitched you can find the link to the pattern here. Or you can get to it through my project page on my Ravelry acct linked above.

Give this one a shot, it is worth it!

Goodbye CafePress, Hello Printful

Sometimes you have to take a chance on something new. Since 2003 I had a shop (ok, multiple) on CafePress. At the time it was a pretty revolutionary thing. You could upload your design, put it on items, carry no inventory and make money doing it. For the first few years this worked great. Any amount over the base price was your profit no matter how the customer found you.
A few years ago, they changed their commission structure to a flat 10% of your sale. You could raise the amount of your commission based on a few factors, but one of the main ones was of getting followers and following other designers. After seeing tiny commission for an item that cost the customer $25.00 I had decided I had enough, I needed to find another print on demand business.
I had heard of Society6 and Zazzle but wasn't impressed with them or the others like it. I was looking around on YouTube and kept seeing Printful pop up. I was intrigued but skeptical. I looked into it further and decided to try it out.
I really like the way they handle things down to the packaging. You can put your black and white logo on the packing slips and the envelopes/boxes that they use to ship. So it looks like it's coming from your online store and not a third party printer. I also like the integration to Etsy, all I have to do is link my store, upload my designs, select the products and once you sync, the item will automatically be dumped into your Drafts on Etsy where you can finalize it.
Another cool feature is you can buy from your own shop at a discounted rate and also order samples. I set up some items a few months ago and haven't really promoted it but I have had a few sales. I'm not going to depend on this for my income or anything but it's a nice option. Anyone that is into designing full time should look into it. Oh, and they integrate with tons of sites, not just Etsy. Shopify, BigCommerce and even Ebay are a few of them. There are also detailed video tutorials on setting everything up.
One aspect I was confused about was the payment structure. Printful allows you to have a "Wallet" which you can load money into. When someone places an order the money is taken from the wallet/your paypal account/your bank card to pay for the initial order. Your profit comes from whatever store platform you use. For example. One of my t-shirts is priced at $25.00, the base price for the shirt is $17.00 so Printful charges me the $17.00 for the shirt and everything else is handled through Etsy. I get the full $25.00+shipping but you just have to subtract the initial $17.00. It isn't clearly spelled out but once I got my first order I figured it out pretty quickly. $8.00+ profit is much better than the dollar or less I was getting from CafePress.
I haven't ordered a sample yet as of the time of this post, but I am planning on it very soon. Once I do I will review it.
Happy Crafting!

Update: The Magic Knot

Sorry it's been so long again! Summer is finally here so things are only a tiny bit less hectic in our house. I'm going to enjoy every minute of it because very soon my youngest will be off to Kindergarten!
Anyway- that's not why you're here. You're probably here because you want more information about the magic knot that I used in my Rainbow Dash Blanket. I wanted to update because I had read a lot of other crocheters were having issues with the knots coming undone.
I'm happy to report that almost 2 years later (OMG!) that the blanket is still in pretty good shape. There were a couple of spots where I had to reknot the yarn-which was not fun. But all in all it was OK. My biggest gripe with the magic knot is, well- the knots. Depending on where you join the yarn and how good you are at pulling the knot tight it can get unsightly. I tried my hardest to hide the color changes but sometimes they are unavoidable. I also made a Draculaura blanket using the same technique. it was A LOT larger than Rainbow Dash and it took a long time, but it would've taken me 3x longer if I had to deal with sewing ends in.
My advice is this. practice with the technique a lot, it can be tricky to get it down at first and you don't want to be playing around with it on a commissioned project or something you want to sell down the line.
Once you practice- do it more. Seriously make a whole chain of weird ass color changes just to get a good feel for it, play around with where in the stitches you join your yarn so you can hide the knot.
Do a swatch. An actual swatch, probably 20x20 stitches with some color changes so you can you guessed it, practice some more.
Once you get the hang of it you'll be a pro. As long as you're pulling tight enough your yarn shouldn't break. There are a bunch of tutorials on YouTube to help you out as well!

Here's Draculaura so you can see how massive she was! It was over a year ago that I made her but I believe the graph was 180x100 if you zoom in you can see some of the knots.

Happy Crafting!