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I have been so addicted to this song and video. The video reminds me of some of the art direction and special effects in Frida (one of my favorite films) - the way that people become paintings and paintings become people. The song is very haunting - that's why I like Gotye: when he sings, you feel what he's feeling. The video that goes along with the song is a perfect match. 

Since the day we moved in, I debated painting the wood paneling. I can't be certain, but it really seemed like original wood paneling, as it was found all over our 1959 house - the living room, dining room, and half of the basement.

Here is the real "before" picture - from the realty website:


It was difficult for me to change an original feature of the house in such a permanent way - once it's painted, there's no going back. This is the first house that we've ever owned, and I admit I have a fear of ruining it. I had no problem painting the built-in bookcase though - I'm really happy about how that turned out with white shelves and a gray background.

Late one night I attacked the wood panel wall with white primer, and the next day I painted a layer of the same gray paint as my living room stripes (November Rain from Benjamin Moore). It needs another coat of paint to match the stripes:


So, with my painting, my budget curtains, and repurposed art, the living room is really starting to look like my home - not someone else's that I rent - and it hasn't cost a lot, either. The big reveal is coming soon!

So, I've managed to keep a secret for over a year. I did elude to being included in a book, but I didn't say which one! I am beyond thrilled to be featured in I Heart Stationery by Charlotte Rivers - also known in the online world as Lottie Loves.

I got a sneak peek of the book on Charlotte's blog a couple of weeks ago - I believe the book was released earlier in Europe and Asia, and was released in the U.S. on February 21st. I just got my copy in the mail today.


It was so much fun to flip through the pages. I will sit down tonight to really read all about the techniques and artists - I'm in the Paper Cutting section. It was also so neat to see some of my favorite paper artists ever in the book, such as 1Canoe2, Cabin + Cub, and A Quick Study (who you may remember from this blog as a time management guru!).


So, if you love all things paper - from cards to journals, recipe cards, stationery, etc., you will probably LOVE this book. Not only does it cover some of the most amazing paper artists out there, it also gives a brief overview of each technique, as long as a great list of sources and where you can find each artist online.

So that's my exciting news that I've been saving up for over a year! I can never thank Charlotte enough for this awesome opportunity. 

Hi! It's Amanda from The Sweet Details! 


Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/2 cups All Purpose or Unbleached Flour

Directions
In large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; blend well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Stir in flour until well blended. Divide dough into thirds; cover with plastic wrap.

Use as directed to make Cherry Chocolate Brown Sugar Shortbread Bars, Jam-Filled Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies or Maple Nut Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies.


Check out more of my yummy recipes here!

In the last month I have given the new Etsy search ads a try, and was quite pleased with the results. I had a reader recognize my work in search result ads - they wrote to me and asked, "how effective are those Etsy ads? Are they worth the money?"

My answer: yes and no. It completely depends on how you use them. I waited so long to try them because of the very negative feedback regarding ads in Etsy forum threads. "A waste of time, " people were saying, "you're better off spending that money on renewing listings."

Then I would do searches on Etsy, and see ads that were completely irrelevant to what I was searching for. What are the chances that I would click on a listing that has nothing to do with what I was searching for? Zero.

That's when I realized that for the most part, search ads weren't working for people for (at least) three reasons:

1. They were promoting too many items
2. They were using too many tags
3. Their tags were largely irrelevant (ties in to reason #2)


So, with Valentine's Day around the corner, I decided to do a very focused, one week, $5 ad run on Etsy. What I did:

1. Limit my promoted items to 4
2. Limit my tags to 5
3. Make sure every tag applies to every item

Focusing my promotion on just a handful of items concentrates the limited impressions that $5 pays for on just a few items, instead of spreading those impressions across many featured items.

Additionally, limiting your number of promoted items allows you to need fewer tags, and allows those tags to be more relevant. 


For example, I could have promoted my entire line of 2012 Valentines, using tags like, "red", "paper goods" "Valentine's Day", "stationery", "cards", "hearts", "love", etc. All of those tags would have been relevant, but they're not specific enough.

Anyone searching for stationery or Valentines could have seen my ads in search results, but what I have to offer may not have been what they were looking for. Super vague and all-encompassing tags like "paper goods", "stationery" or "greeting card" result in wasted impressions. Instead, using tags like, "Paper cut Valentine" or "Paper cut card" is much more specific - people who use those search terms are much more likely to click on my items, heart them, and buy them. I gave them exactly what they were looking for.

Here were my results:

$ spent: $14.93
impressions: 17,604
views: 225
favorites: 13
orders: 5

This means that for every ~78 people that saw my ad, one person clicked. For every ~17 people that clicked on my ad, one person "hearted" it. The best part? For every 2.6 people that "hearted" my item, one person bought. To me, that's fantastic. That is the benefit of very specific tags - it gives people exactly what they were searching for. My normal ratio is 39 hearts for every 1 sale.


The bummer part? My items don't cost a lot. I sell greeting cards, retail valued at $4.50 - $12 each. I spent $14.93 to advertise, and got $50 in sales as a direct result. Etsy traces the sales, and so those 5 sales were a direct result of the ad. I can see people who sell more expensive items getting more bang for their buck.

All-in-all, I spent $15 for three weeks of search ads, resulting in a little over 17,600 impressions. Considering that many blogs offer advertising starting at $30 per month, this doesn't seem bad to me, especially considering the click-through rate was so good. I've been on blogs before that bring in tens of thousands of views a month, but the ad only brought a little over 100 people to my shop, and maybe not even any sales (I couldn't track the sales from other sites).

I would do it again, especially for a big holiday. I don't know if I would do this regularly, but for very specific events, targeted at certain people or certain occasions, I'd do it again.

Are you a reader with a question? You can email me any time at Ashley@IndiePrettyProjects.com

Check out more of my yummy recipes here!

Alright. Chocolate is not a food group, but I still say that chocolate is still healthy. As long as it is dark chocolate. And in small amounts.

From About.com:

"Chocolate is made from plants, which means it contains many of the health benefits of dark vegetables. These benefits are from flavonoids, which act as antioxidants. Antioxidants protect the body from aging caused by free radicals, which can cause damage that leads to heart disease. Dark chocolate contains a large number of antioxidants (nearly 8 times the number found in strawberries). Flavonoids also help relax blood pressurenitric oxide, and balance certain hormones in the body. Dark chocolate is also richer and contains less sugar than its milk and white chocolate friends."

There. See? It's good for you.

I've been adding dark chocolate chips (70 calories, 8 g sugar per 30 pieces) to Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt (120 calories, 13 g sugar, 16 g protein per 6 ounces) for an ice cream substitute. Basically, it's amazing. I also tend to only use 4 oz yogurt vs. 6 oz.


Another dark chocolate treat I enjoy is dark chocolate kisses and almonds - just a handful. It cures my craving for milk chocolate Hershey bars with almonds. Almonds are a great source of protein, healthy fats, and vitamin E.


An even sweeter, satisfying dessert? Mix dark chocolate with a handful of dried cherries - a great source of fiber and more anti-oxidants! 


So the past few weeks have been all about preparing to change for good. I've been trying to cut out the really bad stuff (cheese, donuts) while adding more good stuff (spinach, spinach, more fruit, and more spinach). Later this week starts the scary stuff like weigh-ins and starting measurements. 


And one final note... I was hesitant to share all of this because I think there is enough negativity out there regarding weight and self-worth. I just hope that if anyone else out there is struggling with this, especially post-baby, that you are doing it for yourself, and to be healthy. For me, it's about staying healthy in the years to come, to be with my children in life as long as possible. Don't let it be for anyone's reasons but your own.

I'm smitten with the totally unique jewelry and accessories from A Plus Design. The pieces remind me of a biology lab or nature study with their organic forms. What brought me into the shop was the geometric round beads necklace, but I was delighted to find the crocheted designs, among others.



A Plus Design is the work of Anda from Bucharest, Romania. Anda's day job is being an interior designer with a self-described surplus amount of free time. "Ironically," she says,  "when I was a child I never enjoyed such activities but now i'm amazed how many things you can do just crocheting, weaving, modeling..."





As a geography major, I really adore her crocheted and beaded brooches. The one below is inspired by a, "mountain that has a river at his bottoms that ran and ran and ran..." Another brooch reflects "a natural form of relief that resembles to a mountain that are in a valley."




Visit A Plus Design on Etsy, or learn more at their  blog, Twitter page, Facebook page, or Pinterest page.

Wow. Curtains can be expensive! I totally underestimated how much it would cost to cover the bay window in our living room. There were curtains up when we moved in, but every time I looked at them, they gave me the willies. Something about the poopy brown color and the fake velvety fabric... ew.


I started thinking about making my own curtains. There are so many beautiful fabrics out there and I thought for sure it would be cheaper than the $55 per panel at West Elm. Nope. Most of the fabrics I liked were $8 per yard, and I'm thinking I would have needed at least 15 yards to cover the whole window. Ouch.

So, I figured I would have to settle for Target at their $5 white window sheers.

Then, lucky me found these beautiful gray and white patterned curtains on clearance for under $15 each (and at checkout they somehow came to $23 TOTAL! I don't know how, but I won't complain). Unfortunately, there were only two of them, which wouldn't be wide enough to cover the entire bay window. Then I found these white, ruffled curtains.



These were not on clearance, but dang I love them. Since it only takes 3 curtains to cover my whole window, I had the awesome idea to cut the white curtain in half. I didn't want white curtains on one side, but not the other, so cutting was the only option since I wanted balance, but didn't want to spend another $20. So, I was able to cover that entire bay window, with curtains that I truly love and didn't have to settle for... all for only $43 total. 

It can be a little scary to take scissors to something so pretty and virtually destroy it. Luckily, I'm not really afraid to dive into something like that, and I'm not afraid to guesstimate and use my eyes to cut straight lines.

I folded the curtain in half, creasing the fold...


and took my sharpest scissors to the crease, and just cut down the middle.

Now, to prevent frays, I folded about 1/2" of the cut edges over, creasing for a better fold.


Using fabric glue, I applied a very light layer with a sponge brush - much like how I made my no-sew pillow cover.


You can try what Sherry on Young House Love did and crease the edges over with a hot iron, and sew the hems.

You can also try adhesive tape stripes like on Triangle Honeymoon.

When hanging the curtains, I put the cut and glued edges against the gray curtains, where no one will ever see them - not that they look that terrible anyway.

A guest post by Rachel Anne Jones

For today's craft I realized I would have to make it a fabric/sewing project. I haven't really done anything with fabric yet on this blog, so for today we are making personalized tags for your gifts, your keys, your purse, labeling glass jars for knicknacks, or just for kicks and giggles. As it is almost Valentine's day I'm sure there's all sorts of cute inside jokes, lymerics, words with friends puzzles or whatever lovers are doing nowadays that can easily stamped onto a little keepsake that surprisingly doesn't take very long.

Materials

-Vinyl, faux-leather, or the real stuff if you're so inclined. (if using vinyl, this project probably won't work with the super-thin stuff. You need vinyl that has that cloth backing to give it some thickness for the stamp to press into)
-embroidery floss
-metal stamps in letter shapes--these are generally meant for stamping soft metal, but today we're going to go crazy and stamp other stuff
-anvil
-hammer
-tapestry needle

I did a heart shape (in honor of V-day) and a square shape here, but feel free to branch into circles, flowers, dinosaurs, or little owls or whatever inspires.

This is very easy to cut with an exacto knife. You'll want to make two pieces so they fit nearly perfectly back to back (it won't be perfect but no worries)



Now put your front side on the anvil and choose letters from your metal stamp kit. They sell these right now at Micheals (including a jewelry sized anvil) but I encourage you to check out the local hardware store, where it'll probably be cheaper.



You may be tempted not to use an anvil, I was tempted at first--until I realized that, without something hard underneath, the words will not press deep enough. In about two whacks with a hammer, I was able to get clear letters from the stamps, but be aware that it might pierce through your fabric if you hit it too hard.

Now sew the two sides together (or if you're feeling like making it even simpler than this tutorial, just glue them together and call yourself done even without the embroidery). I used a normal overhand stitch on the edge of the heart shape, but for the square "hello" tag I decided to try some lacy stuff.



For those that have never made lacy scallops with a needle, it works a lot like making scallops with crochet. In fact, it's much easier. You create scallops on the edge by tying a knot at each stitch along the edge leaving enough slack in the thread to make a round loop (see below.)

This foundation will be loose, but once you have that base set up, stitch another layer on that foundation you just made with buttonhole stitches. You could make as many layers of buttonhole stitches as you want, but I just felt like doing one. These buttonhole stitches will make it hold it's shape much better. (and as you can tell I need to practice this stitch a lot more, but it is fun to do, since it doesn't really need a pattern ((unlike most knitting and crochet patterns that I screw up all the time)))



And there you are, with a fancy and personalized tag to put on whatever you want!