Wanted - Etsy shop promos

It's that time of the year again, when I find I am almost out of the little promo packs I send to my customers with their order. 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

Here are come samples of promos and promo packs from the past.

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 party

Last night I held my Birthday party, which was tons of fun!

There were far too many people to seat..

Everybody brought yummy foods and assorted beverages. My favorite were the vodka jello shots, I was finally able to enjoy, not having to drive home after the party.

My friend Tamar even made a cake featuring my new tattoo!

I also received many wonderful gifts - books, and jewelry, and accessories and a spa visit!

Finally, my friends took this very short film as a contribution to Zia Kitaro's exciting new project Bits of My Life in Israel. The idea behind this project is to share moments of life in Israel, unedited but refined to 30-90 second films that will show the world who lives here and illustrate that there is more to Israel than politics and conflicts. Though what you see in this specific film is a conflict between myself and a snail who lives on my roof garden.

I plan to film several bits of my life during the next weeks, and will be sharing them with you here.

So that was my birthday party. I am blessed to have so many wonderful friends I love to have come celebrate with me. This is one year celebrating was mandatory!

Happy Birthday to me!

I love pantyhose!

I love We Love Colors - a US based online pantyhose shop with a great plus size pantyhose line.

They sell opaque plus size pantyhose in 51 colors for either 9$ or 15$, as well as fishnet plus size, and printed ones (black or white stripes and colorful batik patterns).

I already shopped there several times, due to an unbelievable shortage of plus size pantyhose in Israel (it is incredibly hard to find any that suit a fat and tall woman, like myself, not to mention colorful ones, that are no where to be found). I bought several colorful ones and am very happy with them, as you can see.

Fuchsia, brown and blue

So I was very happy to be offered to get a few pairs to review on my Hebrew fashion blog. I received 3 pairs of the more expensive variety (they have a type that costs 15$ and a type that costs 9$, which is the type I bought for myself so far). I received 3 of the 51 colors they sell - rust, spruce green, and black (the only color I specifically requested). I got my size, which is C\D. The largest size is EE (fitting a 1.82 meter tall woman who weighs up to 170kg).

Rust

Spruce green

The pantyhose are very soft and silky, and lovely to wear. They are large and long (fitting almost up to my bra line) so they actually serve as a loose body shaper.

There is only one problem with them - Unlike the cheaper variation I already have and washed many times in the laundry machine, these need to be hand washed and hanged separately. I did think of washing them separately by hand (cause I was told they just arrived from dyeing by the website manager) but I did carry them upstairs in the same basket as my ordinary laundry, and the rusty colored ones bled color all over my laundry, resulting in many stains and one shirt that went to the garbage.

So in short - this is a great place to buy cheerful plus size pantyhose, but you have to take extra care is washing and drying the pantyhose. I would stick with the 9$ variety, if you are looking for a low maintenance product.

2:31

See you at the altar

This is a short little entry, to show off my new hand puppets - the first I made in ages!

I got a rushed custom order for two full size hand puppets imitating a lovely couple who will get married next week. Their friends decided to make them a wedding video with puppets in their own image. I had a week to make them, and had to compromise on some aspects of the similarity, but the guys who ordered them seem to be happy, so - mission accomplished.

One thing I can tell you though - no more emergency puppet making for me. You cannot believe how stressed I was, espceially since my right hand hurts terribly for the past month or so (I know, I should see a doctor), it has been raining most of the week (preventing me from working on the roof) and I was working as usual througout the week (meaning I had to work on the puppets at night). Bad bad bad.

The guys promised to send me the film after the wedding, so I will be sure to share it with you guys! That's it. Have a nice weekend everybody and stay safe and warm. And of course - congratulations to the happy couple (obviously I am not sharing their photo, not to spoil the surprise).

Puppeteer on the roof

Today was such a beautiful sunny day, following several rainy ones, that I decided to spend a few hours on the roof.

Last month I sowed different types of tomatoes all over the  roof garden.Look how huge this couple is getting!

And here is a cherry tomato variety, I think it will soon be ripe for eating. This is actually from a tomato I put in the ground, and not seeds.

The orchids are blooming, finally. I can't wait for the poppies and freesia to blossom we well.

 The sky was so clear, I could see the ocean nice and clear, the first time this week.

You will be happy to hear I spent the afternoon working on an order of two full size hand puppets. Can you spot the fetal puppets in this photo?
 

I still have a lot of work on this order, but I got a nice start. I missed working on the roof. I honestly have no idea how I am supposed to sell this apartment, but I do know one thing - I will be buying a smaller roof garden flat, no doubt about that.

I will be posting more about the new puppets as work progress. I already made a new custom ordered Flutterbutt this week, but a waiting for something to arrive by mail before I can show her off. I see lots of puppet making in the near future, yay!

New earrings

I have been down with the flu all week. And I do mean down. With a fever of 102 and constant coughing I spent most of the week either asleep or cursing the moment I was born. After a week or so of this I am finally getting better yet still at home, which was a great opportunity to shoot the new earrings I made and list them on my shop.

I am also working on a custom ordered Flutterbutt, which I will tell you about later on, and plan to make a second very special puppet, which I will also revel in due time.

I simply realized that all this "I haven't been able to create anything since my mother died" story I was telling myself is just that - a story that I can replace at any given time. So I stopped telling that to myself in hopes that is all that is needed in order to get my creative wheels rolling. We shall have to wait and see!

Inner joy missing

I haven't been able to make puppets since Mamisha passed away 5 months ago. In fact, the last puppets I made are the Sex and the City Girls, which I made back in March I think. This is making me anxious, I must admit.

Making puppets is somehow connected to a place of creative inner joy, which I haven't been able to tap into lately, obviously. I just cannot bring myself to cut foam, not to mention actually sit down and design a puppet. I want to, I have several specific puppets I want to make, but I just cannot bring myself to actually sit down and do it. Just like a diet I cannot start (which reminds me, I also can't get any weight off).

I also haven't been operating puppets for a long while, not for significant amounts of time anyway. I think the puppets are means of communication with people, and were a way of playing and relieving Mamisha's (and mine) stress and pain, and now that she is gone - I don't need them as means of communication, cause she isn't here anymore, so I just let them sit quietly and stare at me. I actually feel guilty towards a specific puppet I hardly touched for months now. Oy.

If you have any inspiring words to share, please do. I believe this fear that "I lost IT" is caused by mere anxiety and nothing more, but who knows? All artists are afraid of losing the creativeness, we are nothing without it aren't we?

Guess who's back?

Yesterday I had a wonderful surprise waiting when I got home - Tzipi the World Traveling Flutterbutt returned home from her almost year long trip. On January 31st she left Israel to go on a world tour visiting friends in England, Scotland, France, Belgium, New Zealand, Florida, Arizona and Virginia!

On her trip, Tzipi made some wonderful friends.

Was hosted like a princess with yummy foods, excellent accommodations and traveling to beautiful and strange places.

And even managed to get some work done.
 

So now what? Well, the original plan was for Tzipi to return and spend some time with my mom, but since it is too late for that, Tzip will join her fellow Flutterbutts in preparing for all the exciting projects we have planned for 2011.

Happy New Year everybody, and thank you for making this year so much better. And a special thank you for all those who took the time to host Tzipi and show her a good time while abroad. Especially to Sue and Donald in Florida, for whose health I am praying daily.