Buying imitation leather handles for crochet bags

I've crocheted many bags for myself and for gifts for the past several years. I never thought of using leather or imitation leather handles for it...but when I found it available on Etsy shops at affordable prices, why not?
It can make a simple handmade purse quite stylish. Or it can make the 24-hr celebrity look-a-like bag look more like the original ;)

Here are my recent purchases:

Imitation leather handles, round toes from 3Dpatternpaper, China, $13.20 (including shipping)

Microfiber leather handles, soft, from pursehandles, Hongkong, $14.00 (including shipping)

PU leather and cotton tapes handles from pursehandles, HK, $8.50 (including shipping)

Imitation leather handles from yeahshop, HK, $13.50 (including shipping)

I bought from different shops so I can compare the quality, the price and the service. I chose Etsy sellers with good feedback and those that are nearer in location. Each shop was good on service, quality and price. For the brown handles (the first and last photo), which look almost the same - I can say that I liked more the one from yeahshop since its a bit softer. I'll be using it for my celebrity bobbles bag...showing in my next post :)

10 Tips to Work Happy and Productive from Home

While browsing the Etsy newsletter this week, I found these tips from jewelry designer, Patricia Wood of VerreDesign.

Here are the first 5 tips of 10. Most of it I'm familiar about, the only problem is in the execution. I know there's no excuse, one needs to adhere by these guidelines to be able to succeed working from home. Keeping your goals in mind, while maintaining the right business attitude at home is necessary for that sense of accomplishment.

1) Very first thing, always say you work “from” home and not work “at” home. See, hear and feel the difference? Working at home may lead people to think you are available to pick the neighbors kids from school at the end of the afternoon or that friends are welcome any time to chat and have coffee with you.

2) Define your spaces and separate work from home. Have a room or defined space dedicated to working. Don’t do it wherever you happen to be. Set aside some space, preferably a room (it doesn’t have to be big, see here ) to be your workspace. That way, when you enter it, you know consciously what you’re there to do: go to work. It changes the state of mind from “I’m at home” to “I’m at work”.

3) Set up a functional workspace. This is critical to the success of your business. Make sure it contains all the necessary equipment that you need, and why not a wall calendar to write your goals and things to achieve (ex: Erasable wall calendar or Printable organizers). Decorate your workspace so that it is aesthetically appealing and try to keep distractions to a minimum!

4) Set regular hours and stick to the schedule (don’t stay in your pj - get dressed!)

5) Set online times. You don’t always need to be accessible for chit chat, check if you made a new sale in the last 3 minutes, peak in the forums to see what’s new, watch if you’ve been retweeted or if someone new wants to be your friend on Facebook. These are the worst time eaters. So plan you online time and no turning on the computer for a quick email check!

There are links to help you with defining your workspace and setting up your workplace (from fellow Etsians!) If you'd like to see them or read the full post, here's the link: http://verredesign.blogspot.com/2013/03/10-tips-to-work-happy-and-productive.html

Eco-friendly crochet contest

Hi, I'm inviting everyone to take a look at the entries and vote on the etsyhookers creative challenge. Voting is open to all.



The theme of this Challenge is Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose. Members were asked to create items that are environmentally friendly. Items could be crocheted from eco friendly yarn, repurposed yarn (yarn made from plastic bags, fabric strips, or old garments, etc.) and also can include recycled items (such as CD's, plastic rings from can tops, etc.).
I didn't have any entry for this contest, but I already cast my vote :)

Etsy purchases

I got my goodies last Friday!
About 3-4 weeks ago I purchased these items from 3 different shops on Etsy. These are just small items which can all be classified as materials for crafts. Don't know exactly what to do with it, but I know they will be useful in time ;)
I love shopping on Etsy! So many cute little things that I can afford.
Not all Etsy sellers would ship international, so I would like to thank these shops for shipping to the Philippines :)
Mineymo - delightful fabrics for creative crafters
Winter Rose Designs - explore the possibilities (jewelry)
Voscoleccion - glass and silver made art

What I love about Etsy

Etsy Buy Handmade mimicrochet

I haven't been doing much to promote my shop on Etsy, and lately made only a few sales there. But there are other Etsy-related stuff that makes me happy about being there. Yesterday, I was reading some of the positive comments I've gotten so far and I found a photo uploaded by someone who made herself a Breezy Shrug from my pattern. It put a big smile on my face :)



Isn't she lovely?

Here's another modeled pic from a satisfied Etsy buyer several months ago:



So pretty!

Btw, if you're a hooker on Etsy, you can join the Etsyhookers team. I've recently joined them and look forward to getting to know more Etsy sellers and also get more tips and inspiration for my shop ;)
You can view the team's profile and list of members on the Etsy page.

My obscure patterns and Etsy update for sellers

Some of you may want to know how my pattern sales are doing. I can only say that in the past several months, I sell xx patterns a month through my website, Etsy shop and Ravelry store combined. But I am a little pleased with it, since I didn't expect much to begin with, and I also only invested a little money (though much time and effort) to get it going.
This next bit of info made me stop and think a little. Based on Ravelry statistics, all my patterns are obscure - less than a 100 projects and less than 200 queued. I have to disagree on the numbers since crocheter membership in Ravelry does not represent a good amount of crocheters worldwide. Nor do all of the existing members post their projects or link to the patterns.

Anyways, on the bright side I can say:
1. Currently, 3 of my shrug patterns are in the popular crocheted shrugs list -
* Shells and Flowers Shrug
* Breezy Shrug
* Little Cotton Shrug
2. Local sales of my designs by Coats Manila Bay in the past two years are doing fine. (Though it could have been better if they had released the 3 more patterns they had on hand for more than a year already!)



3. I am still motivated to make new designs, and optimistic that my pattern sales will go up :)


Btw, here's good news to Etsy sellers. You can now pay your Etsy bill using your paypal account. That's a great improvement esp. for international sellers, who are charged bank service fees everytime they pay Etsy (read about it here).