on my reading list....

The magazine is mine --- bought at JoAnn with my 40% off coupon (score!). The other 2 books are borrowed from the library. Stitch magazine is awesome. I love that magazine. Yes, it costs a fortune (for a magazine! $14.99 a pop with no coupon) but it's worth the price. In this edition, you'll find TONS of fun and easy projects that you can make your own. There is also a free pattern from Oliver + S. That alone I think is a steal!

You know, most of the times I like to read a design book just to give me ideas and inspiration and I don't actually make anything from the book. "Carry Me" book is that kind of book for me right now. The book is filled with lots of sewing patterns and bag designs--pretty to look at but don't think I am going to make any of them. I could if I want to but reading it is enough to give me lots of inspiration. I like to read the how-to section because I can always apply that knowledge to my next sewing project. I'd say this book is more suitable for advanced sewist. The bags are lovely and they look very upscale-ish!

For those of you who sell crafts online (or even offline!), I highly recommend the the last book I am reading, "The Handmade Marketplace". It is filled with basic yet important online selling tidbits. Lots of details. And tons of suggestions from real-life successful crafters from around the globe. I am not finished reading this book yet but already I learned a great deal of online-selling abc's.

Ok. I am off to reading some more....

been awhile.....

It has been a long while since last I blogged here. So much going on. Baby had her 100th day celebration in New York; then she turned four months; new daycare...

I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. About work, life and everything else. I don't know. I think I've got to the point in life where I am seriously asking myself: where do you want to go from here? what do you want to do? how are you going to do it? Ok wow this is deep.

Well. Memorial Day weekend is coming up. We don't have much planned. There is a Jazz Festival in town we plan to attend but that's because it's free. The zoo is also running buy-one-get-one special, so we might go. Other than that, I've got lots of crafting to do to stock up my shops.

Also another thing I'd like to mention is my plan to host an online fundraising to help Ayden Driggers. Who is he? Ayden is a 5-week old little boy who was born with a birth defect: a hole in his heart. My goal is to raise between $500 - $1000 to help his family pay for the medical bill. The plan is that I am going to donate every single penny my 3 Etsy shops make until the $500 - $1000 donation is met or until June 15th. So 100% of the proceeds from everything people buy at my Etsy shops from now through June 15th will go to the Driggers. You can read more the story of little Ayden here. I don't know the Driggers personally and I am doing this just because I would like to help. As a mom, I just cannot imagine myself being in Ayden's mom's shoes. So, please spread the word about my fundraising plan. Post on your blog, facebook, or tweet, I'd appreciate that so much.

Will post again tomorrow!