Friday, May 11, 2012

Addiction Friday

I have a few.  Who doesn't?

Currently?????

I'm addicted to:

My Husband.  Over 10 years of marriage, and he is still my drug of choice.
This car.  I'm currently saving for it.  If I can find a Black 1966 Chevy Caprice, I seem to feel, for some unfathomable reason, that I'll be happier.  :)
Knitting.  It is my yoga and meditation all rolled into one.  Seriously.  If knitting burned any calories, I'd be a supermodel, folks.

The Etsy store I'm currently addicted to? ZIBtextile.etsy.com .  Whoa.  I could spend hours buying up all these leggings, if I wasn't saving for that car.  :)


And one weird one.  A new one.  Nancy Drew Video games.  Good grief, the time suck.  :)

So, there you have it!  A Friday full of addictions.  I'd say, for the most part, I don't need to check into rehab anytime soon.....but it's a close call.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Quitting my Day Job - Teaching

So, my day job is teaching.  My whole life has revolved around teaching for more than 4 years.  If you include going to college for teaching, student teaching, etc.....  more like 8 years. 

So it is sad.  Sad that I am leaving the profession after so little time.  Sad that I've become so disillusioned with the politics surrounding teaching.  Sad that the government and our society so little value the time and effort we put into molding students lives. 

I will miss them, those goofy kiddos.  I will miss the job.  I will miss making a difference, EVERY single day.  I'm good at this!  Teaching comes naturally to me.  Connecting with kids and making them see the importance of things in the classroom comes naturally to me.

BUT.  What does NOT come naturally is sitting idly by, watching my pay, insurance, and retirement cut by the state government every single day.  Michigan has cut my pay alone by over $600/month this year alone.  And to work for 30 years to receive a tiny $1200/month retirement, with no real guarantee of even receiving that??  THAT does NOT come naturally.

So...... I have resigned from the teaching profession after 4 years of blood, sweat, and real tears.

The plan?  Do something that makes me as happy as teaching.  Creating.  Selling things that I've imagined and then made with my own two hands.

My etsy stores, craft shows, really focusing on the development of my two young boys, my market garden.  That is what will be taking my time from now on.   

I hope I never regret the decision to work for myself, and focus on my children.  :)

Now...................

Who wants to help me clean out my classroom? 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Random Ramblings- Uglies Cast


So, I've read the Uglies/Pretties/Specials/Extras Series by Scott Westerfeld.....  and, I LOVED them.  No, I'm NOT a tween, the intended audience of the novels.  I'm a grown adult woman, mother of two boys, ubergeek extraordinaire.  But- I loved the message, the writing, and the storyline.

Now, I thought I was excited about The Hunger Games coming out as a major motion picture, but I really am geeked that Fox bought the movie rights to this series.  Now, I've watched a bunch of "casting" videos made by tweens on youtube, and was shocked to see some of the gorgeous beauties they chose for Tally and Shae, pre-surgery.  Now, this is NOT to say that these actors are not gorgeous.  They are.  But they have that "something" unique. And they are gorgeous enough to have the post-surgical "pretty".  :)
Here are my picks:

For Tally:
 

Saoirse Ronan


For Shay:

Georgie Henley


 For David:
Logan Lerman
For Peris:

Hutch Dano
And, last but never least.... For Dr. Cable:
Scarlett Johansson
Yes, there are others...... but those are the ones that pop out in my head. 

Enjoy!

Rotifera Featured on Etsy Stalkers!!!!!

Whoa.  Just discovered a super wickedly fun time suck of a blog.  EtsyStalkers  And by time suck, I mean GREAT blog with funny posts and great shop features.  Julie just featured my hair flair shop, Rotifera.  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!


Over a Year Later......

So......

I return to my blog.  It has been sitting neglected for over a year.  It seems that once I opened Rotifera , time began to run away with me.  I've been VERY successful!!!!!!

Successful enough to resign from teaching.

The two shops are rocking and rolling:
SewEcological --- over 400 sales, and 100% positive feedback.  Full of fun upcycled creations and handknits!
Upcycled Infinity Scarf

Handknit Alpaca Cowl




And Rotifera.... Rotifera REALLY took off last year, with almost 1200 sales, and 100% positive feedback.

Art Deco Rose Accessory


Lacy Button Snap Clips
And.........just for fun, I opened a Paper goods shop last September with my friend Cris... The boxes I started stamping really took off, and we've had 176 sales with 100% positive feedback so far!!!!

Handstamped Kraft Jewelry Boxes
So, all in all--- a BUSY year.  A successful year.  I resigned from teaching effective June 10th, and will be going to Etsy and the craft show circuit full time this year, beginning in July.  I have a Europe trip coming up in the middle of June, and then I'm FULL STEAM AHEAD into entrepreneurship. 

That means more blogging, more sales, and more fun!!!!!!  I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it.

See you sooooooooon!!!!!!
♥Rose

Thursday, February 24, 2011

What I've been up to... Part II

Well, I'm back! 

In this next installment--I'll tell you all about my new etsy shop- rotifera

First of all- the name.  What kind of name is that?  It is a biological nod!

Rotifera- This is the phylum name for a type of microscopic animal that translates to "wheel-bearing". They are beautiful, whimsical, and unique. This represents how I think about hair accessories. We don't NEED them, but we love to invoke a little of our personality into what we wear.


I've made TONS of stuff:


Headbands-








Ponies:




Bobbies:




Snap Clips:







And BIG barrettes:





I'm love cool fabrics so much!!  And I just find that these little button goodies are a very cool way of displaying them!

*smooch* 

Go check out the shop!  Tell me, what do you think should be in there?  I'm curious-- my taste may not be your taste!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Okay, let's just start from the beginning.... What Have I been up to...

What I've been working on: Part I...

I have been so busy keeping up with orders this past two weeks, and that is the reason I've not posted!  But I'm going to MAKE time to show you what I've been working on....

I've been making blankets as part of the shop offering for my Sew Ecological shop on Etsy.  So far the feedback has been amazing, and two out of these three labors of love have sold right out the door....

1.  Neutrals- this one sold in under an hour.  Granted, I had a VERY good idea what *someone* on my Etsy team was wishing for, so I'm glad it did...

Feedback:  "This blanket is FANTASTIC! Rose has a great talent for matching up pieces of prior loved garments into a warm and cozy lap blanket! I LOVE this!"
2.  This one is still in the shop, in case you FALL in love with it!  It is in manly shades of gray, black, and cream, and I really adore it...





3.  And LAST, but certainly not least, this one is one of my favorites to date.  It too, sold right away.  It was also featured on Cuteable.  This one has been lovingly packaged and shipped to Canada, so I hope the owner leaves me some *swoon* feedback once she recieves it.  It was hard to let go of this one, because my AMAZING cousin (also a FABULOUS sewer) donated the red fair isle sweaters to make this one a reality.

Thank you for these sweaters, Dawn!!!!
So there you have it.  Day 1 in a long series of "What I've been up to."

Monday, February 21, 2011

I got lost....

I've been out for two weeks. 

It would be needless to say that I've been busy, but the least I could have done was come and drop note!

How rude!

:)

Please forgive me?  I'm really going to try to be more good about posting....

I've just been trying to keep up with all the sales at both my shops, the packaging, the mailing, the lesson plans from school, etc...

I will plan some excellent blog posts for this week, and hopefully gain your trust again.. lol

If you are reading, I love ya!

Friday, February 4, 2011

Wool Beads

What can you do with felt?  You can make beads out of it! 

I bought some beads to see how they should look- I plan on making some with my yarn soon...

And, as I sat staring at the bag I thought, "Yeah, they're cute- but what are you going to do with them?"

This is what I came up with:

In my sew ecological shop, I made two necklaces- called "Wool Love" and "Orange Julius" respectively...







Then- my real lightbulbs went off, and I stitched some balls onto bobbies for the rotifera shop:






So there you have it!  Things that can be done with felt balls!

Happy Friday!

-rose

Thursday, February 3, 2011

That exhausted but amazing feeling!

I know, I know--  Two weeks in a row with little to post?


Here is the reason-  MY BRAND NEW ETSY STORE!!!!!  *pops champagne*

I've been so successful with my main shop- Sew Ecological, that I've spread out into a new area- hair accessories.  This was inspired by making freebies to go along with my Sew Eco orders, and I wanted to showcase them all on their own for a cohesive shop look....

Here are a few things I've gotten done to get the shop, Rotifera,  up and running, but there is so much more on the way!


Button Ponies

Great Big Bobbies

Great Big Bobbies
I pondered long and hard about the shop name- maybe it is too cerebral, but I fell in love with the name....

Rotifera- This is the phylum name for a type of microscopic animal that translates to "wheel-bearing". They are beautiful, whimsical, and unique. This represents how I think about hair accessories. We don't NEED them, but we love to invoke a little of our personality into what we wear.


I've got new items in my other shop too, but I'll leave it at this for today, and post again soon!  (No, really!)


*blushes* for not posting more this week...