Oh Happy Day!!

Hi, everyone!!  This time you didn't have to wait long for my return here.  You might call that turning over a new leaf, and I hope this trend continues.

Some wonderful things have happened since yesterday evening.  First of all, I was pretty fed up with the mediocre (understatement) performance of my computer.  While I'd be typing, the text would stop appearing on the screen, the back button didn't always cooperate on the first click, and the page changes were as sloooow as molasses at the North Pole in January.  In short, I had frequent aggravations with the dumb thing and was contemplating replacement of it with a different brand.  Well, yesterday evening I threw up my hands in disgust and decided to switch browsers from Internet Explorer to Google Chrome.  There's no comparison - performance has been flawless, like night and day!  As a result, I'm enjoying use of my computer soooo much more, plus the switch doesn't cost a penny!  Internet technology has come a long way since Explorer was introduced.

Here's the piece de resistance:  here I've shared bits and pieces about my participation in the Etsy Expats Team, participation that's included curation of bi-weekly theme Treasuries.  This morning I got up to read a Convo (Etsy's internal email) from the winner of the next-to-last competition.  The title of the Convo was, "Congratulations...You're the Winner."  Do you think I'll ever stop doing the Happy Dance???  The theme was Colors That Make Your Heart Sing," and was there competition - eight people each submitted at least one entry!  The last winner couldn't decide which of my seven should win, so she made ME the winner.  I'm unable to post the links here, so I'll give you the titles, which you can enter into Etsy's Treasury Search (or you can go to bloomingtailsdogduds.etsy.com and click on "Sally" on the lefthand side of the screen and then click on the Treasury link): 1) Kaleidoscopic Kreations - Etsy Expats Team; 2) Brighter Than Bright - Etsy Expats Team; 3) The Most Colorful Time of the Year; 4) Gold Is the Way to a Woman's Heart - Etsy Expats Team; 5) Pastels of Spring Make One's Heart Sing - Etsy Expats Team; 6) Black & White and Red All Over - Etsy Expats Team; 7) Colors That Make Your Heart Sing - Rainbow Sherbet.

Other activities are beckoning, so I'll have to close.  Remember I promised a recipe?  I'll post it later today for sure.  I'll also have pics of the new mini cowboy hats.  Bye for now.  

Cowboy Hats and Buyer's Chats (Continued Again)

I got so wrapped up in  telling you about those mini cowboy hats and bandannas that I forgot to bring up the friendships that can develop between Etsy sellers and their satisfied buyers (the "Buyer's Chat" part of the title of this post.  I'm sure you were wondering who this buyer is and what the chats were about.  Here goes:

You might remember the posts I entered starting a few months ago about a lady and her three teacup Chihuahuas, two of whom love wearing dog clothes.  She has raved about everything I've sewn for her dogs, and a friendship has evolved.  We exchange pics of our dogs as well as chit-chat about what's going on in our lives.  She's such a pleasant lady, and she enjoys my sense of humor.  She's sent several pics of one of her dogs standing up in the driver's seat of her car, to which I've commented, "She must be your navigator" (or in one case, "driver.")  She got a kick out of that.  She's lonely, so she needs a lift. 

Actually, don't we all need a lift, with the dramatic increase in crime rate and other misfortunes in recent years.  What a relief it was to have found out that the Boston Marathon Bomber was captured!  My belated condolences go out to those affected by that tragedy.

Enough rambling for now.  As I said in my very last post, I'll have a scrumptious recipe next time.  Take care!

Cowboy Hats and Buyer's Chats (Continued)

Good to be back just a few hours after submitting my last post.  Not just making up for lost time, but also to continue where I had to leave off due to a technical gluitch which caused the margins of the last part of my last entry to be wonky.  After closing, I made a beeline from the blog to Blogger's Support Forum, where I posted an SOS for resolution of the issue.  Just before starting this post, I checked my last entrymm, and discovered to my delight that the support staff had corrected the matter. The margins are now as straight as a die.  Hooray!!

Back to the cowboy hats.  I don't plan on selling just decorated hats.  In an Etsy Convo, my friend Victoria also introduced the idea of selling hat and bandanna combos.  Brilliant! My Shop already has a few cowboy and cowgirl outfits, and I'll sell the hat/bandanna combos separately, with mention of how good they'll look with the outfits.  The little doggies will be all set for the hoedown in them!

   No way will a hat stay on a dog's head without a chin strap to hold it in place, so I had to put my thinking cap on to come up with a viable means of securement.  What I've decided to do is form two triangles of the same fabric as the bandanna, with an elastic chin strap sewn to them, and fasten the triangles to the inside of the hat with fabric glue, which, once dried, makes whatever you're gluing stay put.  I swear by Liquid Stitch fabric glue, which, by the way, is non-toxic, for fastening trims and the like to fabric, and I've never had a complaint from a buyer about the trim detaching.

Next time, which I vow will be soon, I'll havve a mouth-watering recipe.  Yummm!

Cowboy Hats and Buyer's Chats

Hi, everyone!  Remember my promise to be back soon?  Well, I just looked at my last post, and discovered to my dismay that I last posted on March 10!  How the time flies!  My experience with that has been similar to that of vowing to call a friend, but promptly forgetting to do so until it's about time to go to bed, at which point you think, "Well, another day."  It happends again and again, until you finally drum up the wherewithal to call the person, unless he or she beats you to it.  We Etsians are especially prone to that, with orders coming in and promoting on our agenda as well.  Ny apologies, dear friends!

The movie project didn't work out.  It's a long story, but I'll say this much - from now on I'll stick to conducting business with people who want garments for their little dogs, period.  It's so much easier, not having to worry about meeting production crew's deadline and mine, since sewing and mailing time has to be taken into account.

Last week I listed another party dress, a black and silver lace-patterned number with a black satin panel at the midsection, with a bow of the printed material.  Here's a pic of the dress, which has garnered many Favorites:

Another type of listing is on the drawing board, and I'm really excited about it.  An Etsy friend, Victoria Clark, has a wonderful blog, redletterdaybags.blogspot.com, and I had arranged to have her posts emailed to me.  I really enjoy reading them, and in a recent post of hers she included a photo of a stuffed rhino she'd made.  The upshot is that the rhino is wearing a mini cowboy hat, and in her postVictoria provided a link to the supplier's Etsy shop, Mad Hatter Supply (madhattersupply.etsy.com).  My first thought on seeing the hat and the link was, "Order some, decorate them and put them in my shop!"  They came in yesterday's mail, and I just love them.  In fact, in the feedback I left for the seller I said, "they exceed my expectations."

I don't know what's happeneing with my text entry here; the margin is not even, and it's really frustrating me.  I need to close for now.  Be back later.  Take care! 

Here are the pics of the four dresses the owner of the three Chihuahuas ordered most recently (no technical difficulties with posting this time, thank goodness!):

She's as pleased as punch with them, and plans on ordering more pretty soon.

The positive experiences I've had with this buyer as well as others who have ordered from me goes to show you how important good communication is with buyers.  I'm a firm believer, too, in sending buyers photos of the finished custom product for approval prior to shipping.


In my March 20 post I promised another recipe.  Here it is:

PEPPERONI/MOZZARELLA PULL-APART BREAD:

1/3 cup herb-flavored dipping oil
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 16-oz. pkgs. pre-made pizza dough (or equal amount homemade dough)
1 7-oz. pkg. sliced pepperoni
1 8-oz. plg. shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Separate pizza dough into small bite-sized pieces.  In a bowl, pour dipping oil.  Toss dough pieces in oil to lightly coat.  Layer dough pieces in bottom of bundt or fluted tube pan.  Next, layer sliced pepperoni and shredded cheese, and sprinkle with garlic powder.  Repeat layers, and end with final layer of dough pieces.  Serve by pulling the bread apart into individua;l servings with optional marinara sauce on the side.  Enjoy!

This time I promise to post again before the coming week ends.  As I indicated in my last post, which was interrupted by the difficulties posting the dog dress pics, it's great to be back!

I haven't posted in a while (tsk, tsk, my apologies).  Processing of orders, theocratic activities, and participation in the Etsy Expats, have kept me pretty busy, and I'm grateful for this breather.

The Etsy Expats Team provides many opportunities for participation, including its biweekly themed Treasury Challenge.  The current Challenge theme, Mellowed with Age, was introduced yesterday.  This one is especially challenging, since IMO, it's just plain hard to come up with a relevant Treasury theme AND satisfy the requirement of including at least eight Team members' items.  Buuut...I managed to come up with one, which is titled Wooden You Want Something Old?  You may have guessed that each featured item is a vintage piece made of wood.  Here's the link to it:
https://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTg3MTQ4NjZ8MjcyNDIxMjczNg/wooden-you-want-something-old?ref=pr_treasury

I haven't had time to list anything, but in Etsy's infancy one of its developers had the foresight to provide sellers with the opportunity to relist items.  Have I been relisting and relisting!  Items of mine have also been featured in Treasuries too numerous to mention.

It seems that some dogs, as they age, show a trait that's opposite to that of aging men: they become more hirsute.  In past winter seasons, Dominique's coat wasn't quite as bushy as it is now, and she never had a 1-inch length of fur projecting from her toes.  I'm astonished at this, and the other day I took a pic of her feet:

I'm really happy at the present frequency of sales in my Shop, partly due to the satisfied buyer I've mentioned in previous posts.  In a period of less than a week she ordered four dresses for two of her tiny Chihuahuas!

During my attempt just now to post photos of those dresses, I experienced technical difficulties, so I need to log off for now.  I'll be back shortly.

Treasuries and Tweaks

Hi, everyone!  I hope all has been well with you and your pets if you have any.  I haven't posted since February 28, since I've been busy (who isn't busy nowadays?), between engaging in some fun activities for an Etsy Team I joined last week and carrying out extensive revisions of each and every one of what was then my 112 listing descriptions.

I learned of the existence of the Etsy Expats Team via an email I received informing me that I had been added to its Circle.  What an amazing coincidence that was, since I'd lived in southern Iran from April 1974 to December 1978, when my then husband, who had been on loan from Gulf Oil to Oil Services Company of Iran, and I were evacuated due to the about-face of Irano-American relations and general turmoil there, with everybody and his brother on strike as well as the murder of an American executive employed with the Oil Company, which happened just down the street from our house!  I applied for Team membership, and a short time later was accepted.

Membership on this Team is a great opportubnity to get to know people from many countries, and its discussion board provides kazillion means of self- and cross-promotion, including different bi-weekly Treasury themes its members can use to create Treasuries within that theme.  I've been having a blast curating Treasuries to conform to the "Happy Song" theme, suggested by a member who needed to start thinking of happy songs instead of sad ones.  In the past two days I've curated three: the first one, "Shout!  Shout!  (Knock Yourself Out",) based on Ernie Maresca's hit of the early 60s, with two photos of jukeboxes and photos of miscellaneous items of colors as loud as the music blaring from a jukebox; the second one is titled, "Won't You Let Me Take You on a Sea Cruise?" (the title of  Frankie Ford's early 60s hit); and third, "Purple People Eater," which I had the most fun with.  That's all I'm going to say about that one - you must see it!  I wish I could enter the links to them here, but all you can do is enter the title into the Search box on Etsy's Treasury page.

As for my listing descriptions, I decided to make life easier for buyers and myself by by replacing hte measurements of each item listed with a request for buyers to measure their dogs prior to ordering and provide me with the dogs' measurements.  That way, there's no confusion, and with the measuremnts I can't go wrong with the fit of the garment, whereas with an order for, say, a Small size, there was concern on my part as to whether the garment would indeed fit the dog.  I've never gotten complaints, and I'd like to keep my Feedback 100% positive.
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Now for the piece de resistance:  during what may have seemed like eons since I last posted, I sewed and listed the wedding veil I mentioned in my last post.  Here are the pics.

Isn't that the cutest facial expression in the first photo?  And how do you like the profusion of fur in the second?  She's never had as luxuriant a winter coat as she has this season.  I'm not looking forward to Shedding Season, but I love her so much, she's worth the extra effort involved in having a double-coated dog.

One thing that's unique among Pomeranians is their smile.  I can't resist showing you a pic of her with that Pom smile.

She looks happy partly because her Pommie Mommie takes good care of her, and also because she loves wearing doggie clothes and posing for the camera.  What a ham!

That's all for now.  Take care, and I promise to be back soon with a mouth-watering recipe.