Last day!

OUR SHOP

Do the robot and come on over because...

We are having a 20% off EVERYTHING sale in our Etsy shop, YarnPlusYarn.

Sale is from Monday, September 19-Friday, September 23.
Use code 20percentsale at the time of checkout.

Craigslist, you've redeemed yourself.

I decided a while ago to turn my treehouse into business headquarters for my shop with Emily. I loved the idea of having a dresser to organize all our items in (and also because they were taking up so much space in my bedroom!). Tim suggested the idea of looking under the 'free' section on Craigslist. Last week I really searched, every day. I probably emailed at least 15 people asking about the dressers, and I was having the WORST luck with it. Sunday afternoon I happened to stumble upon a listing for a dresser and it was FREE. My mom, Tim, and I hopped in the van and headed to pick it up. It was an adventure to say the least, but we got her! Right now, she looks like a dresser from the 70's, but I have big plans for her. Big plans.

Colors!!

I am so excited to finally be able to share all the colors our tatted earrings can be made in. Emily worked really hard with dying and creating colors, and I worked hard to get the pictures to turn out. We love how this turned out and we are excited to get our first custom order. 

Check out our earrings! 

XO.

Anaheim Art Crawl, Part 2

A few weekends ago, I got to participate in the Anaheim Art Crawl with Bethany. Luckily, we had tables next to each other, so we got to set up our things together and talk a lot during the slow times. Bethany always has the greatest displays, and her table got a lot of attention. Overall, it was fun (especially seeing friends who stopped by!).

I love my craft fair buddy!

A shop update.

Emily is ridiculously talented when it comes to knitting/crocheting/tatting. She taught herself how to do ALL those things, and now she is making up her own patterns. As soon as I saw these earrings she made for Tessa I told her we HAD to have them in the shop. Since then she has created tons of patterns and even started dying them different colors. Check out the ones we have in our shop so far!

Yes, I know it is summer...

but I just can't stop making cowls! Maybe I am just stocking up for winter. Check them out.

Tessa is beautiful.

A new look.

I think wrist warmers are the hardest of our items to take pictures of. They are so awkward, and Tessa and I have tried to think of many poses that don't make them look so awkward and it ends up being really awkward. (This might be why we have so much fun at photo shoots.) Anyways, we thought we would try a more artsy look for these wrist warmers that Emily made, and I love the way this picture turned out.

It happens.

To be honest, I have been in a bit of a funk lately with our etsy shop. Tessa and I haven't taken pictures in almost two months, and I haven't felt the motivation to really do it yet. I have quite a few pieces I have made, but still just haven't really cared about photographing them. Creating a piece of art is hard. Putting it on the internet for everyone to see is even harder. I constantly feel anxious, wondering if people still like what I am creating or if I am done on etsy. It's hard.

When I had tea with Bethany and Tessa, I was given the motivation to try again. Bethany is good about making me see things from a different perspective and she inspires me to put myself out there. I have decided it is my goal over the summer to put together a home accessories line. It is going to be hard and way out of my comfort zone, but I have high hopes. I will create things that will add a pop of color to one's home, and things that I would love to have in my future home.

It is getting me excited just writing about it, so I am hoping it will bring me out of my funk.

One of those weeks.

It's been one of those weeks. The kind where you don't want to get out of the bed in the morning. The kind where no song on the radio makes you happy. The kind where your hair just won't do what you want. The kind where everything makes you look fat.

Yeah, it's been one of those weeks for me.

But this morning I woke up to a sale on Etsy! AND, it was someone from Australia! I am so excited to have my hat displayed in Australia. How amazing is that? Then I started thinking about Etsy and how much fun I have had because of that shop. I realized that our business is international, and we have sold items to people all over the world!

It's still so amazing to me. I remember camping with Emily a few years ago, when we were just about to fall asleep, and I asked her, "Why don't we start an Etsy shop together?" Since then we have become international! To think there are people in these countries who are wearing items we made with our two hands still amazes me. I am so full of thankfulness and for that I can't be mad today.

YarnPlusYarn in a store!

Remember when I said we were selling our things in a store? Yeah, it's been a pretty snazzy deal. A vintage/handmade store named Nest opened up literally down the street from my house and I was contacted on Etsy asking if I wanted to be a part of it. Since then, we have sold quite a few items and it has been a really good experience. And it's still SO cool that our items are in an actual store, since sometimes Etsy feels less legit because it's all done online (only sometimes it feels this way).

Here is a picture of the store owner, Lisa. I knew as soon as I met her that I had seen her before, and it turns out she went to Cal State Fullerton! Small world. Here she is in her store, Nest.

And she's wearing my headband. Pretty awesome. Plus, she's gorgeous. 

Photo credit: Janette at Daneshmand Photography

An outfit post full of realizations...

I realized...

• I love my new camera.
• My nose crinkles and my eyes disappear when I laugh really hard.
• I have never made an item for myself since we opened our Etsy store. This headband is my new favorite. Get yours here.
• Tessa can make me laugh unlike anyone else.
• A skinny belt makes every outfit better.
• I am beyond happy that I started going to estate sales... where I purchased this awesome turquoise ring.
• Brown is my favorite color for accessories... purse, flats, belts, anything.
• I like doing outfit posts and more might be coming.

Sometimes smiling is hard.

On our latest photo shoot, Tessa looks at me and says, "Alanah, I think I have forgotten how to smile." First, I laughed really loud in her face because she has one of the best smiles of anyone I know. Then, I told her to exercise her mouth and it would come naturally. This is what ensued....

Now do you understand why we have so much fun together?

Creativity.

Don't you love creating something from scratch? Most of the patterns I put together I have to start over at least 4 times, which is frustrating, but in the end it makes it all worth it. With this item, I got it perfectly right the first time I tried it! When I was done, I turned to Tim and said "It looks exactly how I wanted it to!" It's going to be put in the shop sometime next week. I can't wait to take pictures of it.

I hope someone out there loves wearing fashion statement, large, ridiculous, and interesting pieces. 

I need your opinion.

Don't know if you have been over to the shop lately, but I added this piece recently. I am in LOVE with it, and not only because I made it. However, I need your opinion. I know that it's super chunky and others may not like to wear it as much as me, so I am considering adding a 'medium' and 'small' size of the same item. What do you think?

Prepare to melt from all this cuteness.

A few months ago I was contacted by a really sweet customer asking if I could make wrist warmers for her 1 year old daughter. I wrote back a very optimistic email, telling her that I would try, but the thoughts in my head were a little different. How was I going to do this? I have never tried to make wrist warmers for such a tiny person. Yet, I promised to try, and try I did. 

I did the best I could, sent them off, and hoped she liked them. She sent me back these pictures of her girl, Logan. I nearly died from all the cuteness. Pretty sure 80% of the cuteness was from her adorrrrrable daughter, and only 20% my wrist warmers, but still. What a great model, yes? 

Sometimes it pays off to try new things. 

Stockin' up.

I have had such an overwhelming response from my giveaway on The Daybook. Everyone loves those honey cowls! I realize after making so many that they are super warm and cozy and perfect for winter when you don't want to put a scarf on and wrap it around a million times because you can layer this one with anything like jackets or sweaters or mittens or earmuffs and it will keep you warm the whole day and isn't that just the greatest thing ever with this cold winter we are having?! What, you don't like run on sentences? Maybe this won't work out after all.

I think after all these orders are done I will make a cowl for myself.

Stress happens.

Okay, so I'm a little stressed.
I have a ton of custom orders to make for our shop.
I have finals next week and realllly need to get straight A's.
And I think I'm getting sick.

So when I asked Tim to pray for me, he said yes, and then said this. Why don't you teach me to crotch? Then I can help with your custom orders. I love this man, and even though I have no idea what crotch-ing is, I felt much better after talking to him.

Tim's birthday dinner 2010

Our shop has two models!

Yesterday I took pictures with Bethany for our shop, and they turned out so good!

She did a great job and I am really happy to have another model.

Check out the store, we're stocking up for Christmas!

Business is goooood.

I knew this item wouldn't last long in the shop.

It's so warm and soft, and isn't the color just amazing?

I can't wait until I have some extra time to make it again so I can add it to the store.

P.S. Isn't my sister gorgeous? I mean, come on.