Check out my etsy shop! I’m having a Surprise Valentine’s Day Sale. Be sure to check the top of my shop for the discount code and rules!

NEW IN THE CRO-PETTI SHOP!!!! Totally Adorable Crochet Mini Top Hat! Go Check it out! You can totally Customize it with sparkle too! Just in time for New Years and all those fun parties! Buy extra flowers to place on the hat or switch up for a different outfit! Butterfly bobby pins soon to come for the Mini Top Hat! OH! and it’s AWESOME for the birthday girl, or Bride to be! Also a great photo prop!

I just added some more hair accessories to my Etsy shop this evening! Check ‘em out!

Let me know what you think! and Tell a Friend!

Cute huh!? It’s a crocheted Triple Dip Ice Cream Cone! I made these last night along with the tiara, I didn’t take pictures of them til this afternoon for better lighting. But these are new in my etsy shop for $15… The Dips are not attached so they can be placed one at a time and used for several years… I can also make them in different flavors! The cone and first dip can be separated too… Check it out! AND extra dips can be ordered for more years of use!

What do you guys think of these cuties!?

Hey guys! It’s Saturday! yay!  Today I’m working on one of my favorite Christmas family traditions… CANDY MAKING!!! Well, to be honest, none of what I make is really the true definition of candy… but it’s still amazing!

The tradition is… every year, a few weeks or so before Christmas, my whole family on my mother’s side would get together and make “candies” like peppernuts, cookies, fudge, CARMELS with and without nuts, homemade hot chocolate mix, chocolate covered oreos and pretzels, chocolate covered cheerio clusters, etc. portion them out for the 6 to 8 grandkids, put them in holiday tins or gift bags, and we grandkids would then give the candy gift away to someone who made a great impact on our life that year! The only catch is that it couldn’t be family, and most of the time not a close friend either…. this way we understood the reason for giving… to expect nothing in return… AKA so we wouldn’t get any of that candy we gave them.

There would always be plenty of peppernuts, carmels, and chocolate covered somethings left over for when we went to Opa and Oma’s house for coffee break between candy night and Christmas day…

Peppernuts - Ginger, Cinnamon, and nutmeg biscuts/mini cookies. SOOOO GOOD!!!

Peppernuts and a German/Russian Mennonite tradition around the holidays, sadly, in my house, a whole batch doesn’t last but 3 or 4 days with they way my hubby and I eat them… There are HUNDREDS of recipes out there, but my Oma’s is my favorite, and everyone really does theirs differently.

Oma’s actually calls for ground cloves… instead of cloves I put in the nutmeg… that’s my special twist.

The fudge we do is typically peanutbutter, smooth and crunchy… my cousins recipe is best…  I’m still trying o figure it out right. LOL

The homamade hot chocolate is my mother’s recipe, it’s sweet, and has a LOT more chocolate flavor to it then the prepackaged stuff.  =D Plus, with as big as the recipe is the batch lasts a 4 person family almost to the next holiday season!

AND In truth, The scheduled candy night with my family is TONIGHT!!! 12-10!!! So that’s why I’m making candies today as much as I can… But I’ll probably stick to peppernuts and hot chocolate then throw in some candy canes for cost purposes… LOL

I hope ya’ll enjoyed hearing about my family tradition of candy night… I wanna know about you’re Christmas traditions too! What’s your background? What brought on the traditions you have? Send pictures! or videos! I’m not able to go home for the holidays this year, so I thought I’d invite you all into my family to share in traditions!

Happy Holidays! 

Crochet Tiara! Now in The Cro-Petti Shop on Etsy! No two are going to be exactly alike!

What do ya think?

So I figured I’ll re work the pricing of the items in my shop… I’ve been told they’re a little high by a few people… so, I’m going to try and rework the prices and see how that goes… this whole shop is about trial and error… So this will go on for the next few weeks…

OH! I also found out the other day that I got approved to do my project for kickstarter, so keep an eye out for details, and all the ways you can help! I’m working on the details of what to put in the video, and the rewards!

Keep checking back to my tumblr and my etsy shop for changes… I’ll need help and opinions on the changes as well! Thanks for all your help so far!

Hey everyone! I just though I’d give you all a heads up about the possibility of a fund raiser I need your help on! I just signed up on kickstart to do a project!

This project being to raise funds to help get me to my first craft fair! The money raised would go toward materials to create enough items to be placed in my booth at the next Novemberfest holiday craft fair here in town! I’m trying to raise between $1000 - $5000 to get there. This would all go toward the materials needed to crochet all the finished items… I’d like to use quality yarns… then to also reserve the booth, get display fixtures, have gift wrapping available, a small amount of advertising, put together and package kits with patterns, yarn you’ll need and so on…

So it would be great if I could get a little help and feel the love! Did I mention that there are rewards for backing? 

Anyways, I just wanted to give ya’ll a heads up so you aren’t scrounging for money to help… I greatly appreciate you all and luv my followers! You’re the best! and I’ll keep you updated on what’s going on.

ALSO, let me know if you’re on board with me, and plan to be a backer… This helps with the rewards process…

Hey guys! It’s finally December, the last month of the year, the final stretch! HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! haha! =) I figured that it would only be fit for the month of December to discuss the holidays! Traditions, Presents, Family, Decorations, etc, etc. So I thought I’d start with the topic that I’ve been seeing most recently, and will probably see people frantically working on until Christmas Eve… Presents/Gifts! 

Now, I know that many of you already have gifts in mind for those special someones in your lives… but on a personal level, the best gifts are the ones that come from the heart, that say “I love you”, or “I know you so well!” I’ve been so overwhelmed with al the gift ideas for my family members back home that I don’t believe I’ll have time to create something of all of them and send the back home in time. 

With it also being Winter an all there are many common items that I’ve seen to be very popular as gift choices… Hats, finger-less gloves, mittens, scarves, socks, throws, and anything else that can keep your loved one warm. I think these are great! Personally though, As much as I love giving gifts of my crochet items, I still get a little too attached to the item I make sometimes to be able to just give it away… Sad, but I’m sure some of you feel the same way at one point or another with your projects that you put so much time and effort into. I guess that’s where making a double would come in handy. lol =)

The gift of giving always gives back though. I love it! My mother was the same way. She rarely kept her creations for herself. I’m just sad that I don’t have any little girls in my family anymore… and the teens in my family aren’t really bold enough to wear one of my creations on an everyday basis.

I plan to at least make my grandparents a giant doily rug of German/ Russian decent. I have something picked out for my dad, but it’s going to take a lot longer then I thought with it being hand quilted. But most people in my family aren’t really into Crochet items much. They like scrapbooking more. I’m not much of a scrapbooker myself. 

I’m now also looking into having a little bit of a sale to get some of my older items moved out to make room for new items to come in! So I think this sort of concludes my post for the weekend… Be sure to tell a friend! What gifts are you giving this year? Hand made? Store bought? How much effort and thought do you put into your gift giving this time of year?

Next week, I think I’ll be talkin about holiday traditions! Feel free to share!I’d love to hear about other people’s traditions, gift ideas, foods that you eat as a family each year, and so on!

AND! If you need a unique gift for someone, but can’t seem to put your finger on it… be sure to check out my etsy shop now and again to see what’s new! If you find something you like, convo me, and I’ll do my best to make you a great deal… I understand how the economy is, and how tight finances can be around this holiday season…

Thanks again! See ya next week!

Hey everyone! I’m hitting a bit of a “bump” in my road to success… I’ve been trying to sell my Cro-Petties to the right market, which I’m beginning to see is VERY hard to find. I’ve tried Etsy, Tumblr, Facebook, Face-to-face interaction, and still come up with no sale.

I have confidence in my product, and I know that there’s a market out there for it’s cousin the Original Pettiskirts made of satin and chiffon. I’m hoping to get to several craft fairs by this time next year, building my inventory and variety in the meantime. 

I’m working on a different waistband style, to change the look a bit. I’m working on regulating the sizes, lengths and prices, so everything is consistent. But also keep the door open to customizing. I’m trying to add hats into the mix, maybe soon some headbands, leg warmers, and wrist warmers.

I’m wondering if my prices are too high, and no one wants to spend that much on a gift in this economy.or if my prices are too low and people think that it’ll just be a poorly made item for the price…

I love what I do and I know there are others out there who feel the same. I’ve thought about getting a hold of some other women who actually sew pettiskirts, and see if they’d be willing to colaborate with me on how to get my idea ball rolling.

Suprisingly, there are many people out there that haven’t even heard of pettiskirts, let alone what they are. I love the idea of having a product that’s different, out of the ordinary, unique, and special. Pettiskirts have been out for quite some time now. They originally started out as Petticoats, if you recall in my Pettiskirts Post. I’ve been trying to jog my brain on how to go about selling my Cro-Petties and do well!

I’m open to suggestions. I know that I haven’t tried EVERYTHING. I hope I didn’t recieve suggestions and not heed to try them. If I have I apologize. 

I understand that it takes money to make money, and unfortunately, as you may have read not long ago, that my husband and I are going through some hard times financially. Thank you to those of you who helped me out by blogging about my shop! I guess maybe… I need some help finding my market… 

My husband says that I need to be targeting and selling to people that are doing well right now in this economy, like doctors, lawyers, dentists, ect. Sadly, those people you can’t just pick off the street just by looking at them. 

Referrals are awesome! If you could refer my shop or items to people for gift ideas, or just because… That may work. I guess I’m just trying to throw out some ideas too… Word of mouth is always the BEST source of advertising. 

I feel kinda lame that I’ve been making a big deal about what I do, and still have yet to make ONE sale. My shop has been open since August I think, and I still haven’t made ONE sale on anything. Forgive me if I sound like I’m complaining. I know times are tough. 

What I think I may do, is have a sale on the older items I have in stock, just to get it moving… then put a discount on custom items… This sale will start ASAP and probably won’t end until all the old Cro-Petties are gone… Either that or I just give them away. They’re more of my first design… 

I really need some help. If anyone has some suggestions? Referrals? Anything. I really want honesty too. Please, be blunt with me. Print off a picture, ask around, how many people you know would purchase a Cro-Petti and the highest price they would pay for something quality! =) I hear people say all the time, that my Cro-Petties are so cute, and beautiful… but still have yet to make a sale.

Plus, if my husband sees that what I love to do can bring in a profit instead of apparently putting us in the negative, he wouldn’t be so against me not working a day job and working on a home based business. I feel like my dream is dying sometime… lol.

Thanks for your help guys! I hope to hear from many of you soon! Have a great night!