Pansies

This morning I woke up bright and early. It's very warm here these past couple of days (I even saw a cockroach last night, what's up with that?), the sun is shining and the birds are singing. Our roof garden is coming to life with all sorts of flowers and even a brand new strawberry plant I bought the other day. I decided to show off my pansies, after seeing Ayelet do so on her blog!

Have a nice weekend, and don't forget to join my giveaway

So many promos, so little time

Once I got home from work and grocery shopping, I started the evening with arranging my new promo packs.

I received some beautiful magnets from Karen and amazing mini art prints from Jenny. This, along with leftover promos from Shay, discount coupons I got from Katie, my new Moo cards and stickers and some more leftover promos turned into a lovely new batch of promo packs for my customers.

I can always use more promos, so if you want to send me some, please let me know! My customers love getting these little gift packs, and it is a great way to promote and get exposed to new potential customers, especially if we share a similar target audience.

Apple giveaway

This month, I am giving away on apple. And not just any apple, apple earrings made by the handsome, witty and extremely talented Shay Aaron, known from his whimsy miniature market Etsy shop.

 
What do you have to do in order to win these lovely earrings?

1. Follow my blog
2. Comment here
3. Want to increase your chances? Twitt the following message
   Join @shayaaron apple giveaway on @Raisinlike blog at - http://raisinlike.blogspot.com/2010/02/apple-giveaway.html

 That's it! You can enlist to win these earrings till Saturday the 12th. On that date I will use a randomizer to select a winner. Yay!

Here comes the Flutterbride all dressed in white

Thursday was the birthday of my relatively new and most beloved friend, D. Not only did this fine, sweet and beautiful lady turn 26 but she is also about to get married. Since I am the wedding attire stylist (dress check, jewelry and shoes on the way) I know what wedding gown she chose, and I know the wedding gown designer (Fish'n'dag) so I decided to make her a Flutterbride in her own image as a gift.

D's most striking feature is her long silky black hair. So of course, mini D had to have the same hair. It took me almost an hour working on it alone. Hard work, but don't you want to use her shampoo?

I took some artistic liberty with her wedding gown, since D has a very clean and elegant taste but Flutterbrides are a bit more fru-fru in nature. I added some lace and trimmings D would rather wed in a garbage bag than wearing. The red and fuchsia ribbon, though, is after the designer's style.

Finally, since D has a silly doggy who likes to eat things (and people) I decided to make her into a puppet mobile she can hang out of her reach. I decorated the wire with shiny transparent Czech glass and plastic beads, and Murano heart beads in silver and red.

I think D was pleased to get her fancy little Mini Me. She put her in the middle of the open space for everyone in the office to see, and placed a nice pink flowerpot right next to her, to compliment her gown. Later on, she realized something is missing to make her Mini Me really convincing as a double, so she added a final touch, which everybody agreed did the trick.

Mini D smoking a pretzel. Taken with my cell phone camera

A very exciting day

Today, as the title suggests, was a very exciting day!

It started with this article, featuring four Israeli Etsians on one of the biggest financial magazines in Israel with my big picture spread all over the title. I had a nice big part of the article, telling about my creations, Tzipi the World Traveling Flutterbutt, my Etsy tutorials in Hebrew, and my role as Etsy Israel Team leader.

לכתבה באתר כלכליסט, לחצו כאן

I also got a phone call asking me to appear on the morning show today. Luckily, that didn't turn out so I was able to be interviewed by one of Israel's prominent journalists on his daily radio show instead (you can listen to it here). I was interviewed by phone at work, while the entire office stood listening to the online broadcast and cheering behind my door.

 להאזנה לראיון אצל גבי גזית לחצו על האיור

And then I got a phone call from the producer of another tv morning show, hosted by my favorite Israeli media person (אברי גלעד) asking me to appear on one of the show next week.

So tell me, is that an exciting day or what?

Tzipi is ready to go!

There is great excitement among our house dwellers tonight, for tomorrow Tzipi the World Traveling Flutterbutt will embark on her trip around the world.

Tzipi, fresh out of the army and eager to see the world, will be traveling to meet, stay as a guest and have fun with 10 wonderful hosts in England, Scotland, France, New Zealand, Arizona, Washington, Virgina, Texas and Israel. All agreed to open their hearts and homes to the little Flutterbutt and show her a good time. Each of the hosts will take pictures of their mutual adventures and blog about the visit. I will update you guys as the project progresses, so you can follow Tzipi on her journey!

Tzipi with her recipients list, blankie, pillow, messenger bag and sleeping bag

First destination is Kent, Britain where Tzipi will meet Nifty and will get a new hand knitted cardi.

Good luck and Bon Voyage little one! Remember mommy and granny will be here waiting for you when you get back. Fly off and conquer the world!

If you are hosting Tzipi, or want to promote this project  - Please add this button to your blog and link it to http://raisinlike.blogspot.com/search/label/World%20Traveling%20Flutterbutt

Wanted - Promos

As some of you know, I send a little promo pack to each of my customers. These packs are quite popular and make a nice surprise for the customers. It also presents fellow Etsians with a nice opportunity to get their shops introduced to a new audience.

This is that time of the year (post holidays glee) when I find myself almost out of promo packs. So I am looking for items up to the size of a standard business card, such as:

• Coupons
• Buttons and badges
• Magnets
• Charms
  
• Stickers
• Moo cards

These are a few of the items I had in this round, it was a wonderful pack!

If you want to send me your promos, please leave a comment or email me at and I will send you my shipping address (in Israel).

My Birthday Wishlist

Soon my pre-birthday period will begin. A few friends asked me if I will be posting a birthday wishlist this year, since they found it useful last year. When people want to buy me gifts, I cannot refuse. So here is my wishlist for this year. I tried to keep it diverse in terms of prices. 

Thank you so much in advance, for those who show interest or asked me to post this. I love my friends, and I love these items from Etsy. Buy handmade, I say, especially for my birthday.

If you prefer to give me a book, here is my Amazon birthday wishlist.

Fraggle Rock'n'Roll

Yesterday stumbled into a must addition for my wardrobe. Actually it's more of a uniform, being a puppeteer, so I had to buy one (okay, a couple) of the Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock collection for Zara! Look how nice it looks, and soft too not to mention fairly priced.

T-shirt Zara, trousers - Evans, shoes - Fly London, monster necklace - Shay Aaron

Go to this website the Henson company setup - they actually have remixes of the Fraggle Rock themes. So cool!

Here's a little reminder for you guys, enjoy!

Meet Tzipi, the world traveling Flutterbutt

A fundamental element of my World Traveling Flutterbutt Project is the world traveling Flutterbutt. That is why I thought it's time to introduce you to the lady herself, soon to embark on her world tour, Miss Tzipi Flutterbutt!

Tzipi is a 20 year old Flutterbutt, fresh out of the army. She spent the last few weeks of her service, like so many other Israelis, dreaming of a great tour of the world so she heard I am conducting auditions for Flutterbutts she immediately contacted me asking to be interviewed.

Tzipi strikes me as a strong willed, highly competent young Flutterbutt. She enjoys hiking, hiking, swimming, diving, and many other outdoor activities. She also loves the theater. As her appearance may reveal, she is attracted punk and rock music and colture. She has a slight discoloration in her eyes ("just like David Bowie" she says) and is fair skinned and freckled, so will need lots of sunscreen to avoid getting burnt in direct sun. She usually forgets to take care of this herself, so you will need to help her with that.

Tzipi is almost ready to embark on her great adventure. This is the list of hosts I compiled for her journey. Please confirm you are still in or update me otherwise. Note, the list is random, and does not reflect the order of her trip.

1. Craftiness (Austin, Texas, USA)
2. Snowbell (London, UK)
3. Fyrecreek (Virginia, USA)
4. Juniejo (Scotland, UK)
5. FigTree Boutique (SC, USA)
6. Niftyknits (UK)
7. The Lost Earring (Washington State coast, USA)
8. Jac-Ber Creations (New Zealand)
9. TheJoyofColor (Ramat Gan, Israel)
   

If you are in, please email me your shipping address and any comments or questions you might have to .

If you want to host her, there is still time to join the list. Comment here!