Road trip!!!

I feel as though I use far more exclamation points than someone with an English degree should, but... alas. Truth be told, I am super crazy excited about my road trip, which I take every year, and upon which I am about to embark. I will be putting my Etsy shop into "vacation" mode, so the ordering system will be unavailable until Monday, March 29. Hopefully I will return refreshed and bursting with new ideas. Until then, enjoy these glorious weeks of spring!

In the air...

After all of the snow in February, we are finally in the midst of a glorious "warm" streak here in eastern Pennsylvania. The temperature has been in the 50s, the breeze has been light, and the birds are coming home and singing away on my rooftop. Hope springs anew!

Speaking of new, I have been hard at work on designs for spring and summer. In the past week I released two new hats: the "Pamela" summer cloche with buttons and the "Millie" slouch beanie. They are already posted in my Etsy shop and will also arrive at Hello Bluebird soon!

Excitement!

Alicia's treasury made the front page of Etsy! And she wins my contest! Hooray!

Flamio!

Introducing - and just in time for "Hugs & Kisses from Studio B" - the "Flames of Love" scarf! And in a brilliant demonstration of love, Mr. LC was kind enough to model it for my camera. Don't worry, I gave him his manhood back afterward.



Today I am also being featured in Etsy's Accessories showcase! Check it out here.

Introducing...

...the "Nate" hat! More details at the shop.

New item!

Really, I don't know what took me so long. I guess I thought everyone wanted hats and not mittens. Silly me! Anyway, LikeClochework is happy to offer the "Dorothy" mittens in a variety of colors and with your choice of needlefelted design. They are incredibly warm and can be made to match your LikeClochework hat.

Newscast 2010

Happy New Year, everyone! Thanks for your support and encouragement of LikeClochework over the past year - I couldn't have done it without you! Now that the holidays are over I can finally move my focus back to business and to YOU, my amazing friends and customers. I am planning quite a few changes, updates, and special "events" for the shop this year, but to get you started here are just a few:

1) Prices have gone up. No, don't be whining! It's for everyone's own good. As I've stated before, I started selling retail this past fall and realized that I need to change my shop prices to reflect my retail prices. Don't worry, it's not a big change, and my hope is that the increased pricing will actually allow me to offer my customers even better service, shipping, and packaging.

2) There is a SALE going on! I have reduced some prices and moved items to my "sale" category. Check it out and snag a deal.

3) It's almost birthday time. February 20 marks LikeClochework's first Etsy-versary, and I am planning a fun little "party" and sale. Details coming later!

I am tickled that I was finally able to get my artwork from Stephanie Corfee hung up in my living room. It looks fabulous and really ties in with my color scheme. New Year's Resolution: Spruce up my home. And now to take down the Christmas tree...

Ready, set, break!

Even though I'm taking a little break from hat-making right now doesn't mean I've stopped thinking about Like Clochework. Au contraire, my friends. I am dreaming up all manner of fun hats and headpieces and packaging ideas that will make your pretty little heads spin! Sadly, I probably won't get around to any of them until after the first of the year, so you'll just have to wait until then.

Speaking of next year, if you haven't visited my shop lately and seen the announcement, my prices will be going up a bit in 2010. I am selling retail now and really need to change my prices to reflect that. So if you have your eye on something on my Etsy shop, you may want to consider purchasing it soon if you want to save a little cash. The price change will be good for my customers in a lot of ways, though, because it will allow me to provide better services, prettier packaging, and maybe even some free shipping. So if you want all of those things, by all means wait until next year!

Today I am planning to do some painting for the first time in a long time. Now that I think about it, it's been a year and a half since I last pulled out my watercolors and brushes. Wow. And I want to get four paintings done today. I hope I am not overly ambitious...

New items!

I just added a couple of new items to my Etsy shop!

This little cutie is named "Bethany" after my fun and funky sister.

A new, puffy twist on the classic "Millie" beret.

It's a two-post day!

Just wanted to show off my latest, which I've finished uploading to my Etsy site. Enjoy!

For treasure hunters

Well, no one has purchased "Lil' Punkin" yet, but it certainly is getting some attention! Two Etsians have featured it in their treasuries in the past week: rippleffect and tisserande. Follow the links to check out their treasuries and to see the other fine artists whose work they've compiled.

Today, speaking of pumpkins, I am going to learn how to make a pumpkin pie from scratch!

The mad hattery begins

I have so much to do! With Crafty By Nature, retail stores, and my Etsy shop, I feel as though all I'll be doing for the next few weeks is making hats, gloves, and cowls. Right now three of my new "Paisley" cloches are in the works, in some very wonderful fallish colors. I just finished a new fingerless glove pattern and a cowl pattern, so I'll be making up some of those as well. And today I came up with a nice little cable pattern that might end up on some pieces in the near future.

Plus, I figured out what I want to do with all the vintage pillowcases I have sitting around. You'll see soon! I hope...

This weekend I did take the time to make something for myself: a lovely, lacey cowl worked up with recycled silk I purchased from craftyyarn. It's so soft and wonderful - I wish I had more of the yarn!

Springy lace beanies are here!

Fabulous news! For those of you who want warm-weather hats, they are on their way - some are even here! I've just added the first of my new lace beanies to my Etsy shop, with more to come in the next couple of days. I'm also planning to work up some lovely little lotus flower pins to match them, so stay tuned.

Speaking of staying tuned, I have taken the plunge and joined Twitter. Feel free to follow me for all the latest news!