Cats R Us

    I don't know why it is that cats go so well with books -- one of my best selling bookplates has always been the cats standing on a stack of books.. popular on just about anything!  In fact, most any cat on any bookplate seems to do well. 

     My newest amigurumi doll doesn't have books, but she's a cat woman - she's for sale over at Etsy and I find myself reluctant to part with her.  I think it's her hat with the rose on it.  Mind you, I made everything myself so it isn't as if I couldn't make another - but she's a one of a kind and as I make these dolls - even the finger puppets - I start getting attached to them and don't want to part ways.

Perhaps I need to get out more.

Hey there little Red Riding Hood....

Story telling and finger puppets seem to be a good fit for bookplates - since many of my customers enjoy reading and telling stories to their children, grandchildren, or students.

I have a bunch of fnger puppets I'm working on, most to go with familiar stories we tell our children, with and without books.  These are all from my own design - later I may work on writing out descriptions of the patterns but... that's a lot of work!

First up is Red Riding Hood...check her out Etsy ... a set of four characters from the story..Red Riding hood carrying a little basket - her hood will slip off and on.  Grandma, looking all innocent.  The Big Bad Wolf, complete with white fangs, and the Hunter, wearing a dapper green cap and carrying an ax.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is next -- Papa Bear has a hat, Mama bear has an apron and Baby Bear has a bib... cute!

Then there is the classic Princess and Prince Charming set -- you can turn this into just about any story.  It comes with Prince Charming, a beautiful Princess, an evil Witch and... a horse.  You have to have a horse so you (Prince or Princess) can ride off into the sunset....

 A knight with a shield, sword and of course a horse - and a dragon - seem to make sense ..

 

 To go with the Pooh bookplates, a set of not-Pooh finger puppets - but almost as cute and they will work just fine when telling that Classic story.  A little honey bear, a donkey, a striped tiger and a little pink pig.

Each set is hand crocheted, with embroidered faces, so each will look slightly different from others and from these photos.

More will be coming as I think of anything to encourage role play, creative thinking and fun for kids and their grandparents (especially) seems like a good idea to me.  And I am open to suggestions, too!

Although I'm selling these on Etsy, not everyone wants to open an account there - and if an item sells out, it won't be at the link - so I'm also offering these on my website, in a new section I've created for Finger Puppets.

Easter Eggs..

Yes, it's early to be talking about Easter -- I should be focusing on Valentine's Day....but this is about items hand made, and it's late to be ordering up handmade stuff for Valentine's Day --  Easter this year will be April 24th -- 3 months away seems long but these custom Easter Eggs in a Shell take a long time to whip up, and I'm going to pull them off the market sometime in early April!


These darling little eggs are for sale at my new Esty store - Esty is where you can shop for handmade unique items, things that you won't find mass produced on the net or for sale anywhere and everywhere.

These are crocheted, Aminigumi style (my new favorite) - tightly crocheted, stuffed. Each little chick will look slightly different from his or her sibling; they come inside a shell with a little button (the button is very small - so these should NOT be given to children under 3 who might swallow them. I can custom make one for you without the button, just send a message to me when you are viewing them).

http://www.etsy.com/listing/66186918/lone-amigurumi-chick-hatching-out-of-egg

And last, but not least, because these are hand made, they are not cheap - but you know, I love coupons - so here is one you can use to get a 20% discount!  .. just enter this code when making your purchase:   FSEE411

IF when you click on the links, there are no chicks and eggs there, please send me a message!  It just means the ones that were last made have sold  and I need to restock - no problem!

A brand new year...

Oh yes, we got a new year here - and apologies for taking so long to reopen!   End of one year is time to take inventory and restock.

On the down side, there aren't any new designs to look at in the regular bookplate line.  The round bookplates always have some new designs going on, so that's the place to go for new stuff!

On the up side, inventory has been restocked, so many of the popular designs are back in!  And there is a new section, called "LIMITED EDITION" where you may find bookplates you've been looking for.  These are bookplates I can't reorder - and they are some of the most popular Antioch designs - Cat on Books, Man on Ladder....


you may be able to find them elsewhere on the internet, but for now, I'm offering up what I have.   You can order these in"onesies" only - and you get a discount, if you enter the coupon code revealed in that section (PULLLEASE don't use that code if you order other things!)

OHHH yes, and there are new coupon codes, too, if you haven't made an account. Have you made an account?  If you make an account, I go in and make you a regular customer, which will give you a 10% discount every time you log in .. plus, of course, it has all your shipping info in there, ready to go.  And once in awhile, there might be other benefits.

But if you didn't do that, you get to use, one time only, a 10% discount.  That's in an email you get after you place your order.  You can use that one time, no matter who you are.  And then after that, you should have a 10% regular customer discount!

Teachers, booksellers, educators, librarians can apply for wholesale discounts, too.  They only need to set up an account and then let me know so I can sign them up - it's not magic, but in this day and age, it's nice.

The other nice news is that our prices haven't gone up (except maybe shipping - we can't control that!).  If you place an order over 50.00, you still get free shipping.

 Hope that helps you out in this tough and way tooooo cold New Year!  Oh.  and if you read this far, you can use this one time, too... a coupon code for the faithful reader... good until February 18, 2011 .. just key in when you check out, BLOGGIE2011

Christmas deadlines

Ohhhh the time approaches!  I can still ship Christmas bookplates (regular ones) until December 12th, the date when the 15% off coupon (found elsewhere on this blog) runs out.(I extended the deadline from the 10th to the 12th, since I'm ahead of schedule, although orders have been flowing in thank you so much!!!).. the free shipping for orders over 50.00 apply, but they will be shipped Priority or First Class, depending on where you are.  No guarantee when they will arrive. If you want a rush order, you'll need to pay for the shipping.
My bookplates can be found here

For all the other goodies, time is really running out!  Today ONLY you can get 60% off round bookplates plus free shipping by going here   and using JINGLESALE42  as your coupon!!!