Purple for fall

Givenchy Fall 2008 couture

I admit: I'm shopping addict.

Or actually I don’t like to visit shops much, but when I do it, I buy more things I should. Happens usually once in every 2-3 months, because I like to renew my clothing before every new season. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, depends how much I can spend.

However, in last few weeks I’ve been shopping much. All shops are filled with purple items, so I think it should be some kind of fashion color this fall.
I haven’t been a big fan of purple, but more I see it, more I like.

New York’s fashion designers emphasize purple in the top five tones used in their collections. Purple has become staple, but also blue, chocolate brown and steel grey.

Etsy artists: Buttons

It's 6.30 here and I'm drinking coffee. I usually wake up at 8, but today I need to go to see my doctor then.
My son is still sleeping, so I show you some cool buttons and products with buttons I found from Etsy.

First: calloohcallay Second: heatherknitz



First: creativepapertrail Second: miaetgigi



First: Kraplap Second: PattycakesPlunder




First: AmandaSainsbury Second: TheHouseOfMouse

How to make seasonal business year around?

If I knew that, I would be millionaire :)

There are different branches of industries that are seasonal.
Knitting, for example. Everyone likes to wear warm scarves in autumn and winter, wrap themselves to beautiful knitted capelet or put on woolly mittens while it’s freezing outside.

However, summer is not that cheerful, especially if it’s not only your hobby, but business also. Yep, it’s possible to make cotton tops or hats or whatever else, but it has always been, it is and it will be that knitting is more popular during cold seasons.

So what can you- as a business owner or artist- do for making it easier to survive during the low season?

Think about:

1) Marketing
* Do you know who and where are your clients, how to reach them?
* It can be a low season, but dollar spent to marketing is never expense, it’s investment. Sometimes it can be more useful to increase the expenses to marketing while things are not going so well, because it helps you to reach your goals in the future.
* New selling channels and strategies- what are doing now and how you can change things better?
* Do you have enough knowledge for selling your items?

2) Quality and product development
* Do you know your client’s expectations?
* Do you offer what you have promised?
* What kind of product you make? Is it copy-paste from someone else or original idea? Original sells usually better.

Spend the low season for preparing to busier times. Make new designs, think about your market and strategies, how to give a bit more than people expect from you.
Be brave and make decisions. Bad decision is better than no decision.

Autumn and colors

Autumn is my favorite season because of colors and weather.
We just had a long walk on the beach- sun is shining, it's not very cold and trees are in yellow and orange outfit.


Estonians are lucky, because we really have 4 different seasons: spring with blooming flowers, summer with sun and warmth, autumn with colorful leafs and winter with a lot of snow. Some of my friends from Brazil, Portugal and Spain have asked how our cold (+10C and below that is cold for them, not for us) autumn looks like.
It's hard to put it into words, so just see the photos I made today.


I've been living near the water most of my life and can't imagine having a home somewhere else. We often find ourselves wrapped up to a blanket, sitting on the beach cafe, drinking tea on the terrace and enjoying the silence and sunset.
When I need to think about something or if I want to be alone, I go and sit on the beach, th best therapy ever!

Something cute

I have to thank Cammie for the blouse I just finished.
Cammie is amazing woman from US, who has given me so many new ideas lately. I've knitted 4 different items to her and found a lot of inspiration on her thoughts...

So Cammie wanted a shrug with princess puff sleeves. I haven't done anything like this before, but it sounded like a great challenge. At the same time, ArtMind won the last week's EST challenge and picked "cute" for new topic.


I decided to mix those 2 things- cute and puff sleeves- together and here is the result.

I'm not sure how I should call this knit? Blouse, cardigan, shrug? Any ideas?

Check this out!

Access Fashion is a great blog about knitting, needlework and things handmade.

Lesson learned

If there is no such thing as a fine weather outside, the only possible way for taking photos is building a home studio. Something I was experimenting this morning, please let me know what do you think!

Thank you notes

Using a thank you notes is a bit unfamiliar habit to Estonians. I know it's popular in US and a lot of other countries, but people here usually don't send than you cards.

So when I started on Etsy, I had to learn that sending a card is a good customer service. People expect it and are happy about it.
It took some time, but now I've found a conception to my note and I'm satisfied with it. The paper is fixed with crocheted flower, people can use it as a brooch later. I've got some good feedback about it.

Long time, no see :)

Nice to meet your after a while! I have been very busy with my writing work, but I'll try to be a better girl now and blog more about crafts too.

I found something fantastic this morning. Or should I say someone fantastic?
Please, meet Dikla Fellner! She is amazing artist from Israel who is making hand-painted terracotta pots and magnets. Please see her works and I promise you will fell in love with them :)

(If someone would like to make me a Christmas present, then I would take the quilt style terracotta pot, thanks )

Her blog is also worth to read!

Etsy Buy Handmade DiklaFellner

The winner

I'm terribly sorry for the late post, but I and Papermoth have chosen the winners of his giveaway.

The winners are Kimberly and Sara G. Congrats!

I will send both of you an e-mail for letting you know how you will get your prizes.