Mouse Rolls

Mouse Rolls
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt

I've been baking like mad this Thanksgiving, getting ready to start on another 4 dozen rolls in a moment, for now here's something to make you "roll" on the floor laughing.

Yeah, those are gonna be mice rolls. Made especially for my niece Abby and her brother Caleb.

Mouse Rolls about to baked
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt

Red Are The Knuckles

My first 2 knuckles on both hands are strangely red today. They only get like this when the colder months hit and it makes me wonder if that's really where all my general hand aching comes from. You know like tendonitis/arthritis type stuff.
Especially when I do alot of cutting and sewing like I have been doing in the last 2 days.

I don't mind it as I can work thru it just fine so long as I don't over do it on typing during work or playing games at home :lol: It also reminds me just how hard I work with my hands now that I'm running Tumus on Etsy. It's good to know that old fashioned hard work will still bear it's mark on me long after I've stopped for the night and settled down for a cup of tea.

I can look at my red knuckles and think, you did good kid, you did good :)

Foto Friday has gone to the Dogs!

Tillie in New York
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt

My wonderful customer Kellymac23 has given me some lovely photos of her all too cute Westie pup named Tillie. With her help we designed a brand new dog ornament especially for Westies!

You can see the ornament in my shop!
And here's the model!

Where My Dogs At?

Bianca Star
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt

Here's a hearty THANK YOU!!!!!!!! To all my wonderful customers and their beloved dogs ^_^ These kind buyers have all recently received their personalized dog ornament in the mail (or are about to in Laura's case) and are leaving the most wonderful convos and feedback ^_^

Meet the doggies who made it possible!

Winston from Ontario
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt

Christmas Is In the Mail!

Over the past week I've been slowly acquiring my Christmas stash. I'm so excited to be giving these gifts out!! They are all from Etsy.
For Mom, a beautifully hand embroidered little lamb custom made just for me courtesy of AppleandEva all the way from Germany! There's a special message to my mom on the back too with darling little butterflies ^_^


For my two sisters, my mom and myself a collection of delicious soaps from Savor! Trust me I bought more than just this :lol:

And a wonderful custom listing from TeaMan with shiny tea tins to store it all in for my Aunt Cindy and Grandma!


I can't wait till it all comes in the mail. The post man must think I'm nuts! LOL!!!!!

We All Start From Zilch

It's Monday. Oh Monday, why do you plague mankind with your presence? Why? All joking aside I'm pretty proud at how organzied I'm getting with my orders and how I see a system forming. It's becoming easier for me to create my dog ornaments and make up patterns. I have a system to laying things out and cutting them, sewing it all together and packaging. It's great to see it happening!A friend of mine on the forums has been taking some time to consider a new line of work, on Etsy still, but a new direction for her shop. Over the course of the week she's been getting a bit more nervous and unsure about how to go about it or if she'll be successful. I had to remind her that we all start from zilch, zip, zero, nada. Most of us come from crafting hobbies in hopes of fulfilling that itch to be a "real paid artist".Take time and think about it. If you're successful then what does that mean to you? The moment you start thinking "you've made it" you will fall. You can't just stop when you reach the top. No! You must keep going and reinventing and creating and setting new goals!Success is relavent to each individual. Just because one person has 10,000 sales does not mean they think of themselves as successful. Everyone starts from the pile of ashes. You can be a phoenix if you want, but only if you truly want it.

Stain Glass Orange

Stain Glass Orange
Originally uploaded by diamondkelt

It's a bit early, but Fall is fading fast. Here's to remembering!

The Things No One Can Tell You

No one can ever tell you everything they've learned from experience about running their business. So here's what I've been learning and experiencing over the past 10 months.No one can ever tell you when you cross the line between a business and a hobby. When does it happen? It's not like after you've sold "X" amount of gadgets you're suddenly legit. I think it happens when you realize how much you need to organize and keep track of your expenses, when you see you're making a profit instead of just putting it back into supplies or maybe it happens when you make that first sale.I think I've fallen into all three here. I need to get more organized about my expenses and get official starting in December. I hope that I won't owe anything already but there's alot I'm paranoid about. I've always been paranoid about how business taxes work. Like:

-will I be over taxed-Will it become a hassle to collect-how do I keep good records of my sales
-will I under pay on taxes
-will I owe
-do I need business insurance
-how the hell do I file them? quarterly? yearly? bi-yearly?
-Do I only need to charge for the state of Ohio tax,
-do I charge county tax of where my business is based.
-What if I don't sell anything in State do I still pay taxes?If only there were classes on this stuff in my area. I'm sure there are but how on earth do I find out?

Our county office is a cess pool of fail so I'm more than intimidated about finding out how the heck I go about this becoming "Official" bit.I feel better writing it all out. It means I'm seriously pondering all this madness. I'm not trying to evade anyone or anything it just feels so overwhelming. I mean will it be a benefit to be official like this? I don't know? It's not like I can say, oh wait I've changed my mind unregister me!I know a lawyer I'm sure she can advise me in the legal matters of taxes and whatnot or at least push me in the right direction of where to seek out the answers.Personally it's exciting and scary all at the same time. My family doesn't really have any entrepnuers, my dad's dad was, but that was AGES ago. It would go along with all the other first I've been thru in my life. 1st Born, 1st to Graduate HS, 1st to go to College, 1st to be financially independent, 1st house.....all that stuff. Being new to something shouldn't scare me, but it does. It's always the unknown that frightens people the most. So I'll just have to do what I do every time I try something new and that's research, think, and leap.

New Photography Tag

A photography tag will be starting soon so you can find awesome pictures more readily! It gives me a chance to show you what I've been working on and will even show things OTHER than my sewing. I'm sure you're all dying to know my other hobbies or see fun pictures.I think the Christmas rush is starting to gain momentum! I know it's only the 1st week of November but oh my goodness it feels like I don't have enough hands lol!I made a new pattern last night for a West Highland Terrier/Scottie Dog ornament. I've had two requests for them already in the last 2 days! It's probably a good idea that I've made a pattern for these little cute doggies ^_^ Now I just have to get the listing set up, but it seems that I always get pulled away to sew on something else. LOLI have a feeling this weekend is going to be booked. Not only do I need to set up my lightbox (as mentioned before) but there's supplies to be bought, felt to be organized, and accounts to be sorted. I had a goal to have 40 items listed in my shop prior to December but it's tough at the moment, but that's not always a bad problem to have ^_^

Busy Bee Is Me!

Been busy finishing up 2 more Moo Dolls these last few days, pictures to follow later this week. I have a goal to create 10 more dolls to have my stock ready to list. I'm also in the process of getting my lightbox sorted out. I figured I should probably get on the ball with it since the weather will be turning sharply cooler later this weekend and that will draw an end to my outdoor photo sessions. I just need to figure out if I need to buy a few extra desk lamps (the small variety) to help light up the inside. I'm going to see how tissue paper diffuses the lighting.So much experimenting with lighting and good photos! I should take pictures of my light box progress so you can see how I made one ^_^ I also plan on adding some gingerbread men into the Tumus store as well so keep an eye out for those as well ^_^ I haven't decided if these will be bowl fillers or ornaments. I must first make up a pattern!