Etsy news

Good evening and Happy Halloween! I made my first sale this morning. Yay. It was a great piece of news to wake up to.

Apologies for the lack of a blog yeterday, I was tatting all day and then ended up watching the first few episodes of the new series of 24. I love that show and every time a series is released we always end up watching it within a few days!

I managed to list some items on Etsy yesterday. I finished off my gothic pendant and also another bridal pendant. Here is the gothic version of Katherine. It took quite a long time to tat up due to the 35 seed beads but I love the result. I shall blog again on Monday.

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New tatting

Good evening. I've had an eventful few days. Yesterday my mum and I went to a shopping center near us. We had intended to see UP at the cinema but we realised there would be loads of kids, being half term and all! We, therefore, decided to do some shopping instead and went straight to the newly opened Hobbycraft. Wow what can I say, that place is fantastic! They have practically everything a crafter could need. The only things they were lacking were tatting shuttles but I'm sure they will have them in at some point. We ended up spending nearly one and a half hours in there! It was great fun.

In the evening we went to see The Imaginaruim of Doctor Parnassus. I thoroughly enjoyed it. All the actors' performances were fantastic. Heath Ledger shone, as he alway did in each of his films. He brought so much to this and I'm so glad I went to see it.

I've been doing quite a bit of tatting today. I finished off a prototype bracelet I've been working on. The photo is on my Flickr page. I've also nearly finished a gothic version of the Katherine pendant. Here's a picture. The beads I've added really make it gothic. I hope to list it tomorrow in my Etsy shop. I'll blog more then.

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New listings

Good evening. I've listed some new items. The first is a bridal pendant called Mystica. I had the idea for this design a few weeks ago but it wasn't quite right. I went back to it today and found a way around my predicament. I love this design, it feeels so medieval.

The other pendant is called Christina. I had the idea at the end of last week. After doing a prototype I felt it needed something extra so I added three glass teardrop beads to the bottom. It gives it that extra medieval feel. I hope you like them.

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I'm in my first ever treasury!

Hi. Just a quick blog to say my black and red Elizabeth pendant is in a treasury by nemeton. Yay! It is a wonderful collection of items.
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Treasury, twitter and geekery

Hello. I didn't get round to blogging yesterday. I had intended to do it in the evening but I ended up in the Etsy UK chat room instead. It was great fun and I think I was in there for about two hours. Speaking of UKers, I got a treasury. It features great UK artisans so check it out. It's there until Monday.

A wonderful thing happened on Twitter yesterday. I started following Yours Truli, the creator of vintage style jewellery, who then gave me a #FollowFriday link. It was a nice surprise and I thank you for it. I've put her blog on the left and her main website on the right. Check her out, her creations are beautiful.

Today saw the start of filming for the pilot of HBO's Game Of Thrones. Being completely obsessed with these books I immediately went on twitter as soon as I got up this morning. I soon found fan pictures of the crew setting up. It's wonderful that it has finally started. If you like your medieval fantasy books, I'd strongly reccommend you look at Winter Is Coming (this blog is on the left). All the fan info has been pulled together and hopefully we will get some more updates soon. I cannot tell you how exciting this is! Anyway before I start going on about this too much, I will leave it there and blog on Monday.

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What I've been up to

Hello. I've been busy again today. Unfortunately I couldn't list anything because one of my fingers is slightly swollen and tatting is quite impossible at the moment. I know how it happened and it should go down soon. I therefore decided to do some promotion online. I've set up a Flickr account (the link is on the left). I shall be adding works in progress and finished items to it. I've also got a Treasury ready. I thought Treasury Main was going to open up this evening but it opened earlier. I shall therefore hopefully get a spot tomorrow sometime.

Well that's it for today. I shall blog more tomorrow and hopefully include a link to the treasury.

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My day

Good evening. I woke up this morning to a very dark sky and it then decided to rain all day. I'm so glad I made a lightbox yesterday as I was able still able to take pictures. I listed two items today. The first was the black and red version of my Elizabeth pattern. I really like this design and, much like Medea, it came to me out of thin air. I jotted the idea down, tatted it up and, wonderfully, it worked first time. I love it when that happens.

My other listing was Isabella. This reminds me so much of the Tudor rose and again I just plucked this out of nowhere. I decided to add a Swarovski crystal at the center to add some sparkle to it.

Hopefully I shall add some more tomorrow.

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Medea and Twitter

Hi,

I've had a productive day today. I managed to finish making my homemade lightbox and then photographed a few more items (some of which I shall be listing tomorrow). I managed to list an item today. Here it is. It's called Medea. This design just came to me out of thin air. I do that sometimes. It usually happens when I'm not thinking about creating patterns. Anyway this gothic pendant was photographed using my lightbox. What do people think? I'm quite impressed with how sharp the picture is. I think I shall play around with this box tomorrow morning.

I've decided I love twitter. I've been on it for only a day but I've already found loads of interesting people. I'm sure I'll be spending a lot of time on there from now on.

Tomorrow I shall take some more photos and hopefully list a couple of items. Talk tomorrow.

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TataniaRosa is up and running

Good evening. I've had a hectic weekend. Sorry for not blogging on Friday, it took quite a long time to set up my shop and start promoting it. By the time I had finished it was about 11pm! Anyway my shop is up and running. It has a few items in there at the moment with more to follow soon (see 'Items from my Etsy shop' on the right).

At the moment I am trying to make a homemade light box so I can take good pictures. I tried to take some today with natural light but it was cloudy. Always the way isn't it! Hopefully this way will mean I can take photos whatever the weather.

I've set up a Facebook fan page (the link is in the Facebook box on the right). Come and join the fun! I've also just set up a twitter account. Hopefully I'll see you there.

That's it for the moment. I shall blog more tomorrow.

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Tomorrow is the day

Hello. After months of preparation I shall finally be ready to open my online shop tomorrow afternoon (UK time). I will start adding items on Etsy around 2pm and then set up a Facebook fan page and Twitter. I love social networking sites as it's a great way to get to know people. The links will be added here soon after they go live. More items will follow in my shop in the coming days. Gosh this is exciting!

Today my mum and I went to see Surrogates at the cinema. It's actually quite good. It seems to be a cross between I Robot, Minority Report and Ghost In The Shell, which is no bad thing. The part I found the most weird was the fact that Bruce Willis had blonde hair! Crazy stuff! It's an interesting and scary idea for the future of the human race, so if you like your futuristic movies, I would recommend it. I think the next film on my list to see is Up. That dog looks adorable from the trailers.

Talk to you tomorrow.

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Tatting and the Pastel Delights Treasury

Evening. I've been very busy today. My silver chains came this morning so I was able to get on with attatching them to some of my necklaces. I'm doing a few styles of necklaces but sshhh it's a secret. All will be revealed next week.

So anyway, I got on with that and then tatted some pieces. I'm halfway through tatting a simple white pendant with a Swarovski crystal at its center. It's looking quite good at the moment and the crystal adds a nice sparkle to it.

I couldn't do more photos today as it has been raining since about lunchtime. Don't you just love the British weather! I instead decided to do another treasury. My new one is based on pastel colours and features more wonderful etsians. Enjoy!

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Large tatting shuttles are great

I got quite a bit done today. I started this morning by experimenting with some large tatting shuttles I received yesterday. It took a while to get used to the sheer size of them but I think I've now figured out how to hold them without hitting my palm each time I make a knot! They hold a lot of thread or yarn and are perfect for an idea I have. I'll explain more in the coming weeks.

This afternoon I got down to photographing my jewellery. The weather for the past few days has been terrible so today was the first time I had enough light do my pics. I think I'm happy with how they turned out although I'm sure I'll tweak them before they are uploaded to my shop.

I'm still waiting for my silver chains to arrive but I managed to order some more boxes. I shall now refrain from buying things for a bit.

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Jewellery stands and other bits and bobs

I'm sitting here in my dad's office watching the rain outside. All my tatting equipment is at home so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for me to do my blog for today.

Yesterday I spoke of the jewellery stand I was eyeing, well today I went to purchace it and suddenly realised that the minimum order was far too expensive, as was the postage. Like that's going to happen! I decided to look elsewhere and found another seller very quickly. Strange isn't it. You search for ages for something then two come along at once. I have now bought the item and hope to receive it soon. It will be very useful for my shop.

I'm hoping that some silver chains I have ordered will also come soon as I will then be able to finish some pieces off. This evening I shall buy some more jewellery boxes and then I shall be nearly there in terms of set-up for my shop. Phew. I think I need to stop buying things!

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Etsy, Etsy, Etsy

Hello. Apologies for not doing a blog for a bit, it's been quite hectic here over the past week. Most of my time has been spent trying to find a supplier of jewellery stands. I did find one who had a good stand but it's not in stock at the moment. My search continued until I stumbled across another supplier this morning. The stands they are selling are very reasonable so I think I may order from them. Hurrah!

This morning I registered as a seller on Etsy. I decided it was a good idea to sort out the appearance of my shop before I started selling. I shall be open for business by the end of next week. This is so exciting.

After spending some time on my shop I found that Treasury West was a few hours away from opening. This is where you show twelve items from other sellers that you like. I made up a treasury and voila, I managed to get a space. This is a screengrab of it.

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Devon

Hello. I've just returned from a few days down in Devon with my family. We had a great time and the weather wasn't too bad either.

On Sunday we made a trip to the coastal town of Dawlish and then up to Haytor on Dartmoor. The former place is unusual as it has a river flowing through the town and straight into the sea. The latter was great. I have been to Dartmoor before but this was the first time we've found the remains of the tramway at Haytor. This was built in the 1820s and transported granite that was used in the costruction of London Bridge (the one that went to the USA). On the right is a photo of part of the tramway.

On Monday we went to Dartmouth. This is a very pretty town situated on both sides of the River Dart. It has quite a few niche shops and loads of steps (thankfully, though, we didn't need to climb them). We managed to spend the whole day there, wondering round the shops and visiting the impressive castle. This shot of the castle looks quite eerie and gothic to me. We found a wonderful jewellery shop and I've decided that one day, when I have some spare money, I shall come back down here and spend, spend, spend.

There was also some great architecture dotted around the place, like The Cherub (right). This pub is a wonderful overhanging building. I love this kind of structure. Earlier on this year and last year we went to the town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire. This place is almost entirely this style of construction and feels very medieval.

On Tuesday we went to Bickleigh Mill. This is a restaurant combined with a small shop full of knick-knacks. We then made our way over to the town of Tiverton. There is an enormous factory located there full of fabric. I believe we spent at least half an hour browsing.

We travelled back yesterday and on the way we stopped off at Stonehenge. I've been here more times than I can count but it's still a beautifully magical place.

It was nice to have a few days break and now I can get back to working on my online shop feeling refreshed.

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