Great gifts for the sewing, knitting and crocheting fanatics on your list
It takes a long time for me to get a new item to the point where I'm ready to launch it, because I want to plan everything correctly and make sure it's perfect before the baby bird leaves the nest. Because of that, it's incredibly exciting when I get to the point where it's ready!
The idea for these two new items started more than three years ago. If you've been following this blog for any length of time, you've probably noticed that I have an incredibly talented mom. She sews.She knits.She crochets. She cooks. You name it, the woman can do it—or teach herself how—and it's awe-inspiring.
She's been sewing and crocheting since she was a kid, and she taught herself to knit several years ago. These hobbies aren't just a passing fad in her life, either—they've become ways for her to make unique hand-made gifts for friends and family every year.
That adds up to a lot of projects over time!
Because of that, when everyone's birthdays rolled around, or the holidays approached, she had to spend time racking her brain to remember what she made for them the year before, three years ago, five years ago... not an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination.
So, three years ago for Christmas, I made her a journal that she could use to keep track of her sewing projects. I used one of my photos for the front, created lined pages for project information inside, and bound the journal myself.
She loved it! As soon as all the gifts under the tree had been opened and the bits of flying ribbon and paper settled to the floor, she started logging her recent projects. It's become an invaluable resource for her.
She needed the same thing for her knitting projects, too, so I made a similar journal—but with different, specialized lines inside—for her for Christmas last year.
All her crafty friends started asking for them, and that brings me to today!
Both of which have pages inside with room for 64 different projects. If you (or the sewer, knitter, or crocheter on your list) make one new item a week for a year, there's still some extra room for more!
A journal like this becomes a scrapbook, a resource, and a place to recognize accomplishments. Heck, you could even consider it stress relief!
I'm so excited to have these ready for you now. These two journals have been in development for a long time, and I know they'll be something you or the crafty person on your list will really love.
Visit my Etsy shop to see both the sewing and knitting / crocheting project journals in more detail (with more photos of each).
After a big week and bigger weekend, I'm on vacation this week (picture me throwing my hands up in the air with a big grin on my face). This vacation is as much stay-cation as anything, and I love that. Sometimes it's great to just have some extra time to catch up with your to-do list and take it easy!
While I have the chance to sit at home in my cozy wool slippers, I want to share with you some of my favorite websites that in many ways offer a mental vacation of their own.
Let's start with some shopping sites, which is especially relevant now that we've passed Halloween and all the retailers have officially pushed us into the holiday shopping season.
Etsy
Unique. Thoughtful. Inspired. Independent. If these are qualities you like in a gift (whether it's a gift for yourself or for a friend), then you need to be shopping at Etsy. Etsy calls itself "the world's handmade marketplace," and its mission is "to empower people to change the way the global economy works."
Etsy is an online community of independent sellers who make or sell unique handmade or vintage items and supplies. It offers people like me a chance to set up an online shop with very little initial investment but reach a global audience. Not only that, but it's an amazing community, as well—sellers actively discuss business topics and share insight and experience with their fellow Etsians from around the world.
Shop by keyword search, categories, color, curated treasuries of related items, and even by geographic area—so you can find sellers in your own community. And that's the very best way to support your local economy. Shopping on Etsy will remind you of how nice a "personal touch" really is.
Zappos
On the flip side, I also love some big, huge retailers. Call that what you will, but I do believe we can have the best of both worlds!
When it comes to shopping online for shoes, bags, and even clothing, it's hard to beat Zappos. You'll be hard-pressed to find a better selection of brands and products, but even with such a large quantity of items, the site is clean and easy to navigate. My favorite part: free shipping both ways. So forget the challenges of buying shoes online, knowing that you have to try them on. Read the customer reviews, order a couple sizes of the same pair, try them on at home, then return the ones that don't fit.
And if you ever have an issue, Zappos is known for its top-notch customer service, and I can personally attest to it. It won't feel like you're dealing with a faceless monster retailer.
Dropbox
Let's change gears, and I'll share some sites that help with organization and productivity.
Dropbox is a simple site that acts like a virtual USB drive. Create a free account, and you get an online storage space for files, and you don't have to tote around a USB drive or disc. If you're like me, and you have a computer at home and one at work, it makes accessing a file you need in both places very easy.
But that's only the beginning. Say you want to share a file with a friend (or multiple friends), but it's too large to email. Put it in your Dropbox public folder, then send them the link to the file, and they can download it.
If you have a smartphone, it gets even better, because you can download an app and access all your files from your phone, too.
Simple idea, but very handy.
Google Reader
If you follow more than a handful of blogs, then you should check out Google Reader. It makes following blogs easy, simple and organized. It tells you when a new post has been published, and you can keep up with them from one central page. I also love to use it as my own personally curated search engine, which comes in especially handy when I'm looking for a recipe or information on a particular topic.
Hootsuite Hootsuite is great if you have more than one social media account, i.e. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. You can update your status on each network, read your friends' updates, and schedule posts ahead of time. Since I have a personal Facebook profile, a.e.miller photography Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn account, and staying on top of social media is important for my job, it's been very helpful.
Wikipedia
Anyone who spends time searching for information online knows what Wikipedia is, but it wasn't until I heard founder Jimmy Wales speak at a recent conference that I really started appreciating it.
The site is run by a nonprofit organization, the Wikimedia Foundation, with only 70 employees—but it boasts nearly 20 million articles in 270 different languages (200 of which have at least 1,000 articles in that language). It's the fifth most popular website in the world. Its mission is to provide free access to information for everyone in their own language.
Wikipedia runs on an openly editable model that allows people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds to create and edit content. It relies on the knowledge of the community who are constantly updating it.
Wales spoke passionately about the importance of making sure people around the world, of every nationality and situation, have equal access to information. He shared this video that helps to illustrate the power of their mission.
I now feel like I appreciate the site as more than just a quick resource for information. Very inspiring.
Apple Movie Trailers
And finally, how about some pure entertainment?
I love movie trailers. I love that the best clips from each movie are set to music that often gives me goosebumps. I always make sure I get to the theater in time to catch the previews.
The Apple Movie Trailers site is a great repository of new trailers. Whenever I'm looking to just kill a few minutes of time online, this is where I go. Yes, you can find trailers on YouTube and in other places, but in the characteristic way of everything Apple, this site is cleanly designed and easy to navigate. (Do you see a common thread of organization running through the sites that I like?) It's updated regularly, so it's worth going back again and again... and again...
I'll stop there for now. But I want to hear from you: what are some of your favorite websites?
After finding such great inspiration from our previous vacations in Colorado and North Carolina, Mom and I made gathering more of that inspiration one of our missions while on vacation in Michigan.
We make it a point to eat at locally owned restaurants and seek out locally owned boutiques and stores in the areas we visit. I love this for many reasons. One, we're supporting those local business owners whose very existence keeps life interesting. Two, we're witnessing and appreciating the area and its own character, which you can't get from larger chains and businesses. Three, when you purchase something made by a local artisan, you know you'll be one of the few people in the world -- if not the only one -- who owns that item. And for those of us with an interest in creative fields, it serves as inspiration for your own work.
And "inspiration" and "stealing" are two different things. I'm talking about the inspiration side of the equation.
Through some great recommendations, Mom and I heard that the Saugatuck area of Michigan is known for its arts and crafts scene, so we decided to end our trip with a stop there. (Bonus: it meant we were three hours closer to home.) When we researched hotels for our one-night stay, we weren't able to find much in our range in the actual town of Saugatuck, so we stayed in Holland, instead, which is a larger town and about 20 minutes from Saugatuck.
I'll admit, my outsider's idea of Holland wasn't overly enticing. It seemed as though everything I'd ever seen or heard about that town related to wooden shoes... and kitschy really isn't my thing.
I'm happy to say now, though, that I was wrong -- both Mom and I were impressed with Holland. Dutch history and tourist attractions may be one of the main things they advertise, but we found the town itself beautiful and the local shops top-notch. Downtown Holland (where we spent most of our time) even boasts snow-free sidewalks in the winter thanks to heated cobblestone walkways.
We spent our final morning strolling through Saugatuck, which didn't disappoint. Again, the local galleries and stores were great. An art fair was scheduled for the day we were there, but by this point I was feeling like a sponge that had soaked up its fill of inspiration-water... so we stuck to the town, grabbed lunch at a restaurant along the water's edge, then headed home.
Mom and I both came back from vacation feeling relaxed and energized, and we both have lots of great ideas for our own creative businesses. I'm looking forward to adding some new items to my Etsy shop in the coming months!
If you get your SightSalad updates on the actual site (as opposed to using an RSS-feed reader), you’ve probably already noticed a special graphic and link that appeared in the right column last week. I wanted to be sure to tell you the whole story, though!
I’ve never been a photographer who wants to ultimately open a portrait studio and shoot dozens of senior portraits or weddings each year. You know, by seeing my style here on SightSalad, that my photographic interests are much wider than that – and I get a large portion of my inspiration from nature.
I am a photographer who has dreamed of turning her hobby into a small business, though! For years I’ve been imagining my photos on greeting cards, calendars, and other fun items that I’d want to buy for myself or a friend.
A few months ago – July, to be exact – I decided that now was the time to invest in my dream and do something about it! Time to stop saying “someday” and start thinking “why not now?”
I chose Etsy as my launching point for many reasons. The two most important were:
Etsy has its own team of designers and developers who have already built a robust, user-friendly website – meaning I didn’t have to build my own right away!
Etsy is a respected, established marketplace of artists and artisans from around the world. It’s a community, it’s a trusted site for buyers, it’s a support system. The volume of traffic on Etsy.com each day is huge, so it made sense for me to leverage that for my own business.
After months of imagining, planning, creating, designing, deciding, ordering, writing, and posting, my dream is now a reality! I’m incredibly excited about it.
My offering right now consists of two main products: folded sets of blank notecards and individual prints of my photos. I plan to add more and more items as time goes on!
I would be honored if you would visit, check it out, and share the link with any friends or family members who may be interested. Here's your destination: http://aemillerPhotography.etsy.com
Thank you, as always, for being a SightSalad reader and friend!
