It's Been Awhile

Pink Purse Creative took a bit of a hiatus. I had the opportunity to work as an Account Director for a local design agency for the past six months. It was a fabulous gig and I learned a ton! But now it's back to living my dream and driving forward with my passion.

You'll be hearing from me more often and seeing new designs posted in my Etsy shop soon. Right now I'm busy, busy, busy getting ready for two holiday shows. The first one is a private party this weekend where I'll be showcasing holiday gift tags, cards and the cutest new cozy pattern. The second is the following weekend and it is the Second Annual Legendary Run Arts and Crafts Show. If you're in the Cincinnati area, stop by! There will be ceramics, ornaments, jewelry, photography, silk floral arrangements, oil painting, pastel drawings plus my handmade cards and gifts.

Hope to see some of you there. Let me know you read my blog and receive 10% OFF your purchase.

Here's to the Olympics! Go South Korea!

Who doesn't love the Olympic games? Not me and I know I am not alone with viewership surpassing some of the highest rated tv shows! The winter olympics are even more interesting because there are fewer countries participating in fewer events compared to the summer games. This gives some of the smaller countries a big advantage against heavy hitters like the USA, Germany and Russia. One country in particular has been doing very well...South Korea.

Those of you that know me, know that I am half Korean. My father was born and raised in South Korea, graduating from Seoul National University, before moving to the United States to do his residency in Anesthesiology. He married my mom, an American, and had four children. Even though we were raised as American, there has always been a special place in my heart for Korea and the culture.

I want to highlight some of the amazing talent from Etsy that call South Korea home.

In many ways, Korea has become very "westernized" over the past few decades but they still retain a unique quality and respect for the earth. Nacreat's pieces remind me most of Korea and my parents have furniture in the mother of pearl inlaid style...absolutely beautiful workmanship! The delicate flowers on Woomi's embroidered ring pillow are reminiscent of the oriental threadwork on Korean kimonos especially the traditional wedding gowns. Akinamina's story reminds me so much of myself and her design's evoke a whimsical sensibility while highlighting fantastic color palettes! These are just a few examples of the incredible artistry and humor interjected into the art of Korea so take a minute and explore what they have to offer, learn a bit about the people, and savor the mental trip to another culture.

(from top left and over)

I'm (Jim Chan's Shop)

Cozy Decor

Kawaii Day

Eungori

Woomi

Otgam

Nacreart

Sonhee

akinaMina

Sayaka Crystiana

from soul

Atelier de Soyun

Enjoy and see you at the Games!

My Studio is Being Featured on Another Blog!

I'm thrilled! I'm flattered! I'm excited! I'm honored!

Thanks Ann Gorman! She's a fellow Etsian and happens to live in my husband's home country, Ireland. The internet is an amazing place that creates and connects people from so many places and walks of life. Please remember that when you are "surfing" it is important to be real and human. Go ahead and visit her blog and leave a comment!

Where People Create Blog

This Week's Special: Welcome to February!

This is the first of many specials I will be running from my blog!

If you ever go to your local coffee shop and grab a cup 'o joe, tea, hot chocolate or even the fancier temptations (my fave is a mocha), then you will LOVE my coffee cup cozies! They are each handmade by me from double-lined fleece and fit all standard drink cups. The best part about them is that they help keep our earth green. No more using and throwing away those cardboard sleeves. They are also...wait for it...wait for it...machine washable and dryable AND don't need to be ironed. Just take it out of the dryer, throw it in your purse and slip it on to your cup. They work really well for cold drinks too.

So here's the deal...for every cozy you purchase get a FREE handmade greeting card of your choice! After you make your selection here, just put in code Feb2010Special in the notes to seller. Also include the type of greeting card you want. This set would make a great teacher gift for Valentine's Day! Or give it as a gift to your mom, sister, BFF, mailman, husband, that lady down the street that thinks your weird, just about anyone would appreciate it! In fact, you may want to buy a few cozies. There is no limit but the offer expires on Valentine's Day (February 14).

My First Etsy Treasury

I (heart) the Etsy Greetings Team! Since I'm a new member, I thought it was important to jump in with both feet and participate in the Valentine's Day Promotion. You can do a search for "egvdaypromo" to find all the cards and shops participating.

The best part of being in a group is all the new stuff you learn and try because (1) you didn't know it existed before, (2) you were afraid, (3) you didn't think you had the time. I could go on and on. The thing I tried today for the first time was curating an Etsy Treasury. I had to wait until some expired as there are a limited number of showcases allowed. That was the hardest part. While waiting, I perused all the participating members' shops and kept those windows open on my laptop so I could pull them all quickly.

I'd love it if you would all go take a look, leave a comment and make sure to click through to all the listings. This is the part where I learned something new. The more views AND click throughs, the higher the ranking on the "hot" list. Let's see if we can get it to the top of the list and get some of us featured on the front page!

Here's the link:

Je T'aime Treasury on Etsy

Etsy Greetings Team VDay Promo

I joined one of the Etsy teams at the beginning of 2010...Etsy Greetings. I'm looking forward to participating and learning from the rest of the group which consists of over 300 members.

It didn't take long for me to get involved as we are hosting a VDay Promo. There are 33 shops, each one showcasing a Valentine's Day card (mine is in the 3rd row, 2nd from the left) and some are offering special deals. The really nice part is getting some additional exposure for my shop. We are all aware of the over-abundance of information on the web (just look how many people have blogs for goodness sake) and reaching people through multiple touchpoints is essential to e-commerce success. But more on that subject later.

For now, check out my VDay offerings at Pink Purse Creative. The promo runs through January 31 so don't wait to purchase the items quickly as they won't last long!

Caution: I'm Hot!

I was so excited to get these new coffee cozies completed and posted to my etsy shop. I couldn’t wait to share some of the images with you. It just makes me giggle every time I look at them.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful...

Not really but I love a good holiday song; puts me in a great mood! When we talk about the holidays we can't avoid discussing gifts and the shopping of said gifts. This year is definitely different than Christmas' past. For one thing, the economy has really put a dent in my budget. The biggest difference is directly related to my new business venture.

The two really can go hand-in-hand. Since all of my items are handmade and I make a HUGE effort to sell locally, the majority of gifts that I've purchased are either handmade or made locally or both. Every year the family pulls names for the gift exchange since we have so many children now (7 here in Cincinnati) and my pick is my big sister, Lisa. Usually, we just give the other person a list of wants and "off we go a shopping," but I asked if I could choose her gifts and she whole-heartedly agreed. probably because she knows I have exquisite taste. : )

Here's what she's getting under the tree (don't tell her):

All made by FridaWer and shipped from Italy. How European! She has other beautiful things too and feel free to have them shipped directly to my house. Here's the link to her shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FridaWer

I custom ordered matching fingerless gloves from SWAK Shop: Couture Accessories by Amina. She's very talented and based out of Atlanta, GA. Check out her stuff at http://www.etsy.com/shop/swakdesigns

So, that's everything Lisa is getting this year...not too bad for a $100 limit. I didn't forget the children though and got some adorable things for the newest nephew, Carson. He was just born in late October and we're really hoping they make the trip from Grand Rapids to celebrate his first Christmas. My brother, Jason, and wife, Mercedes are pretty hip and organic so I found this incredible bib set made by local artist, Gillian. We arranged for local delivery yesterday which saved me shipping costs PLUS I got to meet her in person. It makes it even more special to know who's hands created a gift that I will be sharing.

Gillian has a great story, sad but great. Etsy is a really amazing collection of really amazing people so check it out and support handmade artists. www.etsy.com

Happy Holidays everyone!

Catching Up is Hard to Do

A bunch of stuff has happened since my last post...all good stuff! The shows were a very positive experience and I'm looking forward to doing more in the future. Poeme is considering adding a third date in early December and, if you didn't read my last post, it's an incredibly wonderful little shop! For the Legendary Run Arts & Crafts Show, I introduced my latest new product...Coffee Cup Cozies! They were a big hit and I'm not surprised. Not only do they help people keep the earth green because they're reusable; they're also machine washable, reversible and adorable. I've got one posted in my ETSY shop if you'd like to see it.

I've also been busy developing different lines for the cozies; some are plain, ones that appeal to men, and embroidered ones. The embroidered ones will be ready early next week and say, "Caution: I'm hot!" How awesome is that! There are a slew of color combinations and you should also be able to find them at The Gift Box in Mt. Lookout.

My last note here is that I stopped by the Archiver's store in Deerfield. They are running a great sale ALL WEEK instead of just Black Friday. I picked up a lot of beautiful paper and embellishments but the big purchase was the Quickutz Epic Six (http://www.quickutz.com/epic/); a die cutting and embossing machine. I've been wanting to explore embossing for my cards and this was such a great deal I couldn't pass it up (especially thanks to the sales associate that helped me spend all my money). I can't wait to get it out of the box and get going. The best part about it is that it uses dies from a couple different manufacturers and the new L Letterpress products work with it too! I know what's on my Christmas list. Check out the review by Paper Crave, one of my favorite bloggers (http://papercrave.com/l-letterpress-tool-review/).

Next on the Agenda

I'm going to learn and design my own blog background...probably use it on my Twitter page too (cailin3). Can't be that difficult, right?

In the meantime, I've got the meatloaf in the oven, one kid drinking milk in the kitchen, two kids at a neighbors house and a husband getting his hair cut. With my trip to Grand Rapids last week, I've fallen behind on the card making front. I also still need to send pricing for thank you cards for a potential new customer. How long is too long before you lose the opportunity? Need to contact the lady about the card displays too and I'm suppose to have coffee with a past client. Not sure about the last one since she hasn't confirmed the date and time. I'll just show up at Caribou Coffee in the morning anyway...never one to turn down the chance for a mocha! Y U M ! ! ! !

There are a number of new items I want to add to my ETSY store in the next few months. Custom designed invitations via the Mac for one. I also went in this cute store in G Rap that had painted metal boards and accessories. You mix and match items to create photo boards that hang on the wall. They even showed scrapbooking paper as the background! Now I just have to find someone who can cut the metal sheets for me. Know anyone, leave me a comment. Preferably local to the Cincinnati area.

My neighbor has also asked me about my sewing skills. Of course, I'm pretty good at it. She found these great little dresses for her daughter but doesn't want to pay $80! Can't blame her considering Joss will just grow out of them in a few months.

So keep checking my ETSY shop for some of these new things and if you have any suggestions don't hesitate to leave a comment here. Thanks for reading my blog!