Message From Santa

About a week ago I was talking with a parent in my daughter's kindergarten class. Her son has been getting himself into quite a bit of trouble in class lately and since Christmas is weeks away she thought she's use the Santa is going to put you on the naughty list line. She took to the internet and found a site that allows you to create and fully customizable video message from Santa. I took the opportunity to check out the site and create a message to be sent to my 5 year old daughter. It allows you to enter the childs nams, age, item they are asking for as a gift, and even if they are on the naughty or nice list. It was classic to watch my daughter in amazement watching Santa speak to her. The icing on the cake was the uncertainty when the elves were checking to see which list she was on. All is all it's a great site that is a fun way to make Santa a reality. See for yourelf and have some fun!

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home

Happy Holidays!

Prop Insanity Ultimate Holiday Giveaway!

The weeks keep passing and we are getting closer and closer to the Holidays. Tracy over at Prop Insanity was kind enough to put together the ultimate giveaway. Ever heard the saying go big or go home? Well that's exactly what she intended on doing with this giveaway. She's got the best vendors donating so many generous items and ONE, yes I said ONE, lucky winner is going to take them all home! You won't want to pass on this one. Up for grabs on my end is a $50.00 shop credit. Follow the link for all the details on how to enter, but you'll have to hurry as it comes to an end on December 10th.

http://www.propinsanity.com/2011-joyous-ultimate-giveaway-come-spread-some-holiday-joy-one-winner-one-huge-prize/

Imajen Backdrops Giveaway Winner... Is it you?

Just got word on the lucky winner of the Collection 4 package from Imajen Backdrops. Congratulations Kristen Fults, you are the lucky winner of the piggy hat among many other great gifts from the other talented vendors! I will be contacting you shortly to get shipping info from you.

Sending all of you a huge thank you for entering! There will be another giveaway coming before the end of the year so stayed posted.

Giving Thanks Giveaway!

We are fastly approaching Thanksgiving and what better way to say thank you than with a giveaway hosted by Imajen Backdrops! It kicks off today, Nov 17th and runs thru Nov 24th, closing at midnight. Winners will be posted on the Imajen Backdrops blog on Black Friday. Hurry on over to her blog and get all the details for entry. I've donated my fuzzy piggy hat, but there are tons of other fabulous prizes to be won!

http://imajenbackdrops.com/blog/

P.S. Don't forget to spread the news! Good luck to you all and thank you for being such great fans!

It's Time to Celebrate!!!

Today marks the day that I entered into the world 32 years ago! I thought it would be fun to offer 15% off all orders today only for all to enjoy. Simply use coupon code 15OFF upon check out to take 15% off your purchase. Happy Birthday to me and Happy shopping!

This Little Piggy...

Halloween is over and done with, but what a busy month that was. I'm a few months short of having been a selling on Etsy for a year so I am still learning the in's and out's as well as the high's and low's of selling online.

The most popular request I had last month was for the little piggy hat. Lots of families were dressing up as the three little pigs and were having me make this hat as part of their costumes. One customer shared her picture of her little sweetie all dresses up for Halloween. Just look at her.. she's beautiful! I love seeing pictures from my customers!

So crazy that it's been featured in 13 treasury lists on Etsy and has been admired by 45 people, it's definately my best seller at this point. Never did I think when I was asked to custom make this for Mona Lisa Photography, that this would be so popular!

Megan Kathryn Giveaway Winner- Package 1

Winner's have been chosen in the Megan Kathryn giveaway. From my understanding vendors were grouped into 3 packages and there was a winner for each package. For my grouping (package 1) the lucky winner of the ice cream hat is Alicia Osborn! A huge congrats goes out to her!

I am so thankful to have been asked to donate in Megan's Giveaway. She did a fabulous job getting everything together and launching this. Many thanks to all who entered and who are now following Petunia and Ivy as a fan!

Yes that's right another one!!!

Who doesn't love a giveaway? I mean it's always fun to enter a contest but even better to actually win the prize, right. During the last two weeks I had been contacted by a contestant from one of the prior giveaways and was looking for vendors in her 1K fan photographer's giveaway. I gladly accepted since I found myself with over 1K fans most recently too and thought it would be a fun way to celebrate and give back to all my fans, both long standing and new! Below you'll find a link for entry details and my apologies for not being able to get the link to function (yarn I can work with, technology not so much)Good luck!

http://www.megankathrynphotography.blogspot.com/2011/10/mkps-one-kay-give-way-for-photographers.html

And the Winners Are...

I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting to hear who the lucky winners are in the three giveaways we sponsored. Drum roll please...

Giveaway #1
Holly Nichole Photography
Winner Janine Huggins - gets a hat of your choice

Giveaway #2
Love That! Crochet and Kendra's Closet
Winner Renee Palermo - gets the flower petal bonnet

Giveaway #3
Winner Suzie Losey - gets the little lamb hat

Congratulations to the winners and a huge thanks to everyone who entered. I have email contact info on the winners and I will be in touch to redeem your prizes.

Tons of work goes into hosting a giveaway behind the scene and I am honored to have been asked to donate in all three. Holly, Tabitha, Nicolette and Traci you all did an amazing job. Thanks so very much for extending the invite to take part in your giveaways!

Total Giveaway Madness!

My oh my, little did I know that when I was invited to participate in 3 separate giveaways they would all be running simultaneously! It's pure madness, but hey that's half the fun right? Okay so here is what's up for grabs...

Giveaway # 1
Holly Nichole Photography - Hat of your choice
Ends October 1st. Follow link for entry details www.hollynicholephotographyblog.com

Giveaway # 2
Love that! Crochet & Kendra's Closet - Flower petal bonnet
Ends September 30th. Follow link for entry details www.lovethatcrochet.blogspot.com

Giveaway # 3
Confessions of a Prop Junkie - Little Lamb Hat
Ends September 30th. Follow link for entry details www.confessionsofapropjunkie.com

Check them out, and good luck to all!

Prepping Up for Halloween

Halloween has always been such a fun time of year, and was always a big to do in my house growing up as a child. My mother loved Halloween! Now having a little one of my own I've taken on the Halloween spirit as well. If only I had known 5 years ago how to create more than just crochet blankets I could have had lots of fun with a festive little hat for my daughter. Being that she was only 2 months old on her first Halloween and weighing a little over 4 pounds, sadly there wasn't any costumes small enough for her :( Needless to say that has inspired me to have some fun and add some new little items for the teensiest little squishies out there so that they don't have to miss out on the fun! Here is a little sneak peek of what's to come for October. Mona Lisa Photography provided me with these adorable photos from her sessions with these little cuties! How much fun she must have loving these little babies and getting amazing shots in the meantime!

It's Giveaway Time!

It's amazing to me how fast things have changed since my opening in February. With time I have networked and met some really amazing people along the away. Most recently I was contacted by a photographer named Holly Nichole who was asking me to participate in her 1K fan giveaway. The more I looked into her work and websites I quickly discovered that she was based out of Germany. Can you believe it, Germany! I was thrilled to say the least. I graciosly accepted her invite and her Giveaway is now live. She wrote so many kind words and I am honored to be amongst so many other talented people. So if you love giveaways and want a chance to win a hat of your choice follow the link for entry details! Good Luck!!! http://www.hollynicholephotographyblog.com/

Missing in Action

Okay so my apologies for being M.I.A. with blogging. I just realized it's been since April since I've posted anything here. Finally I am ready to get this baby off the ground!!

Autumn is near and I've been working on improving the Petunia and Ivy etsy shop. I'm so pround that as of today I've reached 82 sales!! Whoo Hoo! Now I know that's not a tremendous amount but hey, it's a start right? I'm loving every minute of it! Every day is something new and I am meeting so many fantastic people along the way! I am so greatful for them and their friendships! Looking forward to the future to see what it has in store for me.

One of my favorite new listings is the mermaid tail/cocoon. Gaby Clark Photography nailed the shot during her session with this little beauty!

The Start of Something Good...Hopefully

 I guess I'll start with a little about who I am. I'm a 31 one year old mother to one adorable, yet feisty, little girl. When I was pregnant I worked in the medical field as a surgical assistant primarily in a cosmetic surgery practice. All that came to a end when I went into preterm labor at 32 weeks. That really forced my husband and I to make the choice of who was going to leave their job to take care of our daughter. So I decided to take a back seat to the career. With the way things are now being so expensive here in California, I still needed to bring home income to help out financially so I went back to my roots and began waitressing. It wasn't the most glamorous job but, hey I worked three nights a week, 4 hours at a time and made enough money to pay a good portion of the bills. It gave me the flexibility of taking care of my daughter during the day, yet still earn money. It worked out well! Of course it made me miss my career in the medical  field, and I felt as if I had taken three steps backward, but caring for my daughter took priority over all of that. During the first few months home with my daughter I found out that my sister was expecting her first child. I wanted to make her something, a knitted blanket. I went to my local craft store and was on a mission to learn to knit. I found several books, one of which was the Knitting and Crocheting book for dummies. It came with everything I needed to learn to knit. After several days and much frustration I decided maybe knitting wasn't my thing and I should try my hand at crochet. To my surprise it was so easy to understand and easy to do for me.  I really pushed myself to get everything perfect as I wanted to really wow my sister at her bay shower. The finished product was a white baby blanket, with a hot pink ruffled trim and six flower appliques. I was so proud that I  had accomplished what I had set out to do in the first place. I've never really stopped crocheting. I've managed to keep evolving and pushing myself to bigger and better projects. I have heard over the past few years from numerous people that I should consider selling some of the things that I make. I never took it seriously until I recently found myself back in a part time medical job and dreading every minute that I am there. I decided to move forward and pursue setting up shop on Etsy to share my crochet with the rest of the world. Part of me is scared of the unknown, but I am equally excited. I hope that this takes me to new heights and allows me to have the freedom to work from home and be there for my family at the same time. I'm beginning this blog as a way to share a little about myself, my crochet crafts, and to showcase other fellow Etsy artisans.