Happy Kathy

Wow, it's been a really long time since my last post! I have had a series of surgeries this past year for cancer prevention. I am an unlucky BRCA 2+. This genetic mutation is similar to the one Angelina Jolie has. Hers is BRCA 1. In order to decrease my risk for these life threatening cancers, I had a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy. Luckily, I have already had my the wonderful kids, so I didn't have to decide with that consideration in mind. These gene mutations give those of us who have them, a very high, above average risk for cancers. My risks are still high for pancreatic, skin, and colon cancer. But I'm happy I was able to have a chance to do something proactively! Anyway, now on to some shop talk. I have gotten some amazing new fabrics in and plan to make some new wallets for the store. Just a matter of keeping up! Here are some photos of the wallets in their cut out stages. They are in the queue, but are behind my current orders. Take a look and let me kno...

I am back from my very amazing trip to Italy. My sister and I had a great time and I learned some great things while I was there. It was my first time to Venice and we had a tour guide of the Doge's Palace and St. Mark's Church. It was so interesting to learn the history and makes me very motivated to learn more about it. I'm back into the swing of things sewing away! I am hoping to get some new fabrics in the shop soon, but it will have to wait until I catch up on all of my orders. I'm getting there. Here are a few photos from the trip!

Here it is, a brand new year! I'm excited for 2012 for a number of reasons. The first being that my wonderful, and extremely lovely sister is taking me with her to Italy at the end of January! In a mere 19 days! I am so flipping excited! Last time I went to Italy was in college, in 1998. So a very, very long time ago. We are going for nine nights, three in each of the following cities, Rome, Florence and Venice. When I did my study abroad in Rome all those years ago, I never managed to make it to Venice. The reasons are pretty stupid, but at the time I was very concerned about over spending and was on a very strict budget. And a trip to Venice was a lot of of extra dough that I didn't have to spend. But now in retrospect of course I see how ridiculous that was of me. Oh to go back in time with a smarter brain! But alas, that's what being young is all about. Now at least I feel like I will get a lot more out of a trip to Italy then I did back then. I certainly will not be ...

I really am terrible about updating my blog. I suppose it's partly because I feel like what happens in my life isn't all that exciting. I work a lot! And when I'm not working I am taking care of my kids. So there isn't much in there that makes for a super interesting read. But the Thanksgiving holiday was nice, so I thought I'd blog a little about that. Yesterday my sister flew in from Florida for a quick visit. We had a lovely meal at my aunt's house, and my husband made delicious pumpkin chiffon pies, which were promptly devoured! I made two loaves of Challah, which turned out nice. I added more honey this time, because I saw some of the recipe reviewers said this was a good idea. I think I'll put the recipe amount next time. I didn't like the too honey taste. Today we are all hanging out an enjoying having family around. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

I have to say that my favorite part of having my own business is getting to choose all of the fabrics! I have so much fun going through the fabric choices at online fabric stores and picking my favorites. I only wish I had more money to buy even more fabric. But I have to sell what I have first before I can buy more. Here are a few examples of the new fabrics.

I am starting something a little different over here at Happy Kathy HQ, I am putting anorak snaps on my wallets as an extra option. Now if there are customers who would rather not have a magnetic snap they can choose the other snap option. I am thinking of converting over to anorak snaps entirely as I bought a very cool snap press. It's pretty heavy and industrial looking, funny for my small time operation to have this thing! Here's a photo of it. It is very easy to use and makes applying snaps so much easier! So we will see how these snap closure wallets do on the site and if they sell I will convert most if not all of the wallets over to this style of closure. Newest wallets up

One of my fellow Etsy artists, Cindy, designsbylucinda, lost her 11 Year-old son, her home, pets, possessions, everything. The wonderful community of Etsy sellers has put together a shop of donated items. Please go and donate by purchasing something! One of my wallets is there. If you want to donate by buying a different wallet, let me know. Helping Hearts Please click on the link Helping Hearts and take a look!

My favorite thing to do in my spare time is to browse through all the lovely things there are to find on Etsy. Yesterday I did a little bit too much browsing and found a few great things I wanted to share with you all. First is from a great shop called Simply Aprons Where I found this cute number. And then another great shop Vegan Kitty Where I got these for the kids And finally these great address label stickers from I love Die Line Studio And these are what I found

Today when we went to Goodwill we came across these great old coloring/drawing toys, the kind you use a crayon it's side and trace the image onto paper. I remember having one of these as a child. This was such a find! It came with all the fashion plate girl looks, complete with cowboy boots and tight jeans, or short shorts with rollerskates! Love! Also an additional card making tracing kit. Hannah had a blast and I did too! :)

That's my little brother Daniel. Of course he is not so little anymore, and neither am I! :( Ha ha. It's funny how he will always be the baby. And of course my littlest Scarlett will always be the baby in our family as well. So I'm using my blog today as a shout out to him! Happy Birthday Little Brother! I love you! Here's a picture of us when we were small. Becki seems to be missing from this shot. That would have made it perfect if she were in there. Becki being my big sister!  So here's one of us... And appropriate for this post since I am wishing a happy birthday, here we are with our birthday caps on!

Who doesn't love Valentine's Day? Candy, anybody? I could love Valentine's Day just for that one thing alone! When else do I get to buy mini-crunch bars in the shape of hearts, each individually wrapped and waiting for me when my chocolate attack comes along? Photo by Ivan Clow This year for V day the kids and I decided to make a very cool gift for each of their teachers. We got some boxes and cut the tops off to make little baskets, I thread some ribbon through slots I made on either side. The kids painted the boxes in shades of reds and pinks and purples and pasted on foam hearts that I bought from JoAnns. They loved it!  And it was the perfect activity for a day off from school for a teacher workday. Then we put some tissue paper and filled it with various gifts the kids found at the store. I also put in a zipper pouch that I made into each basket. Being a teacher myself I know how much work they do each day and with very little compensation. So I wanted to do a l...

I have been working on creating new treasuries, but they are fairly time consuming, as I like to make sure the shop is legitimate before I include them. Also, finding photos which are good is equally challenging. Sometimes I just want to try to help he seller out with a message of tips, but think that would probably not come across the way I would like it to in print. Here is my newest treasury, it's all about back to school. http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c603373d2856d91434b4daa/back-to-school-in-style?index=0 I was attempting to include newer shops with not so many sales. I am going to work another one soon. Also of interest, to me that is, I found a great blog that had featured my wallets one day last month! I was so excited I almost choked on my big gulp of coffee I had just taken. Here is the link: //cafecartolina.blogspot.com/2010/07/found-pattern.html I wish my blog could be as nice, but I think that would require a bit more time on my part and I haven't been all th...

I am so excited! The new labels I ordered for the shop will be coming soon! They are going to feature flowers in a row with my shop name across the bottom. They look very cute and I am excited to change it up a bit. Sometimes it is fun to make a few changes here and there to make things feel fresh. I received some very lovely new fabric from my wonderful aunt who recently returned from a vacation in Hawaii, she picked me up some very cute Japanese fabrics, and some awesome floral prints, as well as a thing or two with hula dancers on them. I have actually already used one of the Japanese prints to make a wallet with already and it's in the shop. I only have enough fabric to make two wallets from it. Things are going well here. Just having a lot of fun with summer vacation and having the kids home all the time. They are full of energy from the moment they get out of bed in the morning until I'm ready to pass out at their bedtime! Can you even imagine what could be accomplish...

How exciting!!!! Mother's Day is tomorrow! And the First Sunday Market!!! I will be there with Cindy and we will be having a grand ole time hanging out and trying to sell our wares! Wish us luck! Update to come after! Photo taken from the Astoria Sunday Market website, unsure of artist.

What an honor! I have been chosen for the Mother's Day Voter Page. It's an etsy voter page. If you want to please go vote for me! I'm the roses wallet, the link is at http://www.etsy.com/voter_list.php?ref=voter&room_id=105 If I am among the top voted on then I can maybe get on the front page! :) That would be fantastic! This is so cool! I can't believe it. I've sold this wallet once already but have plenty of material to make more.  Getting ready for the market... Have so much to do. Labeling all of my items, making orders and inventory. I have to also make sure that I am prepared for the big day with all the essentials all packed and ready to go and on top of all of this is the news that I have a big interview for a kindergarten position at the school I LOVE! So I am really nervous and trying to prepare for the interview. I would really absolutely love to have this position, I think it is the perfect place for me and Kindergarten is the best! Wish me lu...

Wow, this is very exciting! I made it to the front page. And I was asleep when it happened! I found out after a bunch of other people, I didn't know they would automatically post about it on my Facebook page. Very way cool! I sold that wallet and two other items, which I have to get busy making. So looks like I know what I'll be doing for the next couple of nights!

Very cool! One of my wallets is being featured on a blog, http://www.mylazyapples.blogspot.com/

So my husband, who is attempting to enter nursing school got us addicted to this show.

Hello! Thanks for stopping by! I have so many new wallets up on the etsy store. It's exciting everytime I make a new one because I always wonder how they will do in the store if somebody will like one enough to bring it home! I always love them all and am so excited when I post them and I guess I expect everybody to love them as much as I do! :)

Here is the link to the article that Joanne Rideout interviewed me for. It's so nice! http://www.crbizjournal.com/Publication/volume5/issue4/section16/article2619