What I Did Instead of Yesterday's Blog Post

I kind of completely spaced on a blog post yesterday, mostly because I found a bunch of these unfinished in my closet:

I was about this far on all of them, but I was still surprised that I finished them all yesterday.

I used to do these all the time, and I'm really excited to finish them off and turn them into pillows or something to sell in my shop! I forgot how much fun I had making these. I used to save all the extra yarn I had, and my eventual plan even as a kid was to use them to make up my own latch hook pattern on a blank canvas, so I am currently sorting all of my little strings into different colors so that I can actually make my own! I feel like my shop at this point is made up of things that all come from a pattern, and I think making my own latch hook will be the first truly original thing I've done, so I'm really excited to get some canvas and finish this project. So excited, in fact, that I skipped my blog post yesterday. It also might have something to do with the fact that I binge-watched an entire season of Survivor, but that doesn't sound as good as finishing up old projects, so let's just go with it won't happen again.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have anything to say, and check back Monday for a new post! :)

New Ideas

This is totally unrelated to the rest of this post, but I followed my first blog today! I've been having trouble finding any that I liked, but according to a list on Yahoo, this is one of the best blogs of 2015 and I happen to agree, so go check out this Advent Calendar Tutorial!

Moving on to what this post is actually supposed to be about: new ideas for my shop. Lately I've been trying to figure out how to make my things stand out more on Etsy, and it may be because I went to see Mockingjay Part 2 and still have the Hunger Games on my mind, but I think I need to start incorporating my favorite movies/books into my items. A lot of the things I make are not things I would wear, which is why I sell them. That's how I've always been. At the very start, if I really liked a bracelet I would keep it for myself (not the best business strategy). But I recently read an article about how strange sells: apparently the weirder something is on Etsy, the more likely it will be sold. And I realize that what I'm talking about isn't exactly weird or strange, since everything that's made into a movie is pretty mainstream, but if I do it right, I think it could work. :)

I don't really know how I'm going to do it yet, but I'm definitely planning to add some fandom-related merchandise to my Etsy shop next year. Have any ideas? Anything you'd like to see in my shop? Feel free to leave a comment!

Top 5 Hunger Games Items on Etsy

I just watched Mockingjay Part 1 yesterday, and I'm planning to go see part 2 this weekend, so I kind of have Hunger Games on the brain right now and I thought I would search for Hunger Games on Etsy and pick my favorite five things to feature on my blog! I'm not doing them in any particular order, I'm just basically featuring the first 5 random cool things I find.

1. Mockingjay Necklace from ThatFandomLife

Because when you think Hunger Games, you HAVE to have a mockingjay symbol. I don't like that the story of it is different in the movies than in the books (I mean come on, they just completely eliminated Madge, one of the only TWO friends Katniss has) but this necklace is still pretty cool. And really, it would have made more sense if it was a necklace, because I still find it hard to believe that they let her take a sharp metal object into the arena, decorative or not.

2. Arrow Ear Cuff from martymagic

Honestly, I've never even seen an ear cuff before, so that's probably why I think this is so cool. For someone who sells jewelry on Etsy I really don't wear a lot of it. But I'm definitely using up a lot of restraint not adding this to my cart.

3. Pearl Locket from AGothShop

I know the locket that Peeta gave her had pictures of her family inside and he gave her the pearl later, but this is just a really cool idea. Most lockets just have pictures in them, so I like that it's different.

4. Book Charms from DizzyDayDreamz

I love these. The movies are good, but the books are so much better. I think they're meant for someone a bit younger than me, but I still love the idea of wearing a little tiny replica of your favorite book around your neck.

5. Book Earrings from ArtfulSunshine

Teensy books are adorable. Enough said.

Hope you liked this list! I think I might start doing a list of my favorite Etsy fandom items every week (if I don't end up buying everything and going bankrupt), so check back later and I hope you find something you like!

New Listings

I realize it's Tuesday, but I'm going to do a Wordless Wednesday post today and showcase the three new listings that I just posted! (And I also realize that it's not completely wordless, but it'll have to do.) All of these are now available in my shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/SchmidtyBracelets