db By Design: The Shop is Up and Running, Improvements and Announcements

Yes, I am happy to say that I am back into crafting mode. :) It has been a nice break these last couple of months, and much needed as well. But I am happy to be back at it again.

I have relisted a few items, as well as some custom items in my etsy shop. Made some awesome improvements to a few items, have a couple of patterns on the way (one sooner than another, but they're coming), and finished up a couple items that have been waiting by the side lines.

Here's a peak at what's new:

Erasable Activity Book

I have about 7 more of these sitting on my desk waiting to be finished. Here is the first one, and it is finished and listed! :)

I am really excited about the new pocket on this one! Instead of having individual pockets for the crayons or markers (Which it is impossible to make them the right size for both at the same time), I made one giant pocket on the back page! I love it! It is velcro closure, so nothing will fall out. And now you can carry any other trinket along with you (or more than two crayons or markers). :)

You can find this here.

Bags

I've noticed that I've gotten a few searches for a British flag handbag on my site, and decided to whip up another one of these cute bags! :) 100% receycled t-shirt, and everything on it is made from the one shirt. I love the pocket inside that is made from part of the collar. :) 

You can find this here.

Camera Bag

 

I relisted my custom order camera case. But now it is even better. Improvement number one from my first case is the key ring in the second picture. Just thread your camera strap through there and you don't have to worry about dropping the case in the snow or loosing it when you want to take a picture!
Improvement number two and three (pictures to come): VELCRO. :) Instead of the button closure it is now secured with velcro. (We actually lost our button a while ago, and since velcro is a lot longer lasting and stronger, it was the only way to go.) After talking to my dad about his boring black case that he likes for his camera ;), I also decided to add a velcro loop to the back (optional) so that you can attach the case to your belt of bag strap, or where ever. And since it is also velcro, it's easy to attach to things that don't come undone (such as your belt that you would have to take off and thread through the loop).
Improvement number four: a small pocket in the front that will fit an extra SD card. It will blend in pretty well, so it shouldn't effect the overall design and appearance. It will also have a little velcro to keep it closed and the contents secure.

I will have pictures coming soon of all these great things. :)

You can find the custom order here.

I am also currently working on a pattern for the simple camera case (Though it won't include the instructions for the back loops or the pocket). But it will still be nice! We love our simple camera case! :)


I also added a custom listing for this beautiful Children's Afghan/Lap blanket. :) I can't believe it's been so long since I first took these pictures! My boy is getting so big!

You can find the listing here.

I just feel so crafty, and when I saw this picture, I knew I couldn't wait any longer....

Yup. That's right! Number 3 is on the way! We're trying really hard to stop calling Jacks "Baby" since soon we really will have a baby again, but it's kind of hard. ;)

And thus the reason for being so sick, and so absent in the past few months. 

We're super excited! :) We find out in less than a week what it is, and then it should be here by June 1st! Crazy how the time flies! :)

Happy Crafting!

Custom Custom! Get your custom order today! ;) - UPDATED!!

Erasable Activity Book

I am just about ready to whip out a ton of these dry erase activity books!!! I haven't chosen the fabric for them yet, so if you want to get in on this, and also pick your pages.... here's your chance!

Check out the listing in my etsy shop for all the details.

I have a lot of fabric to choose from. Here are some samples in my flickr account, if you don't see something you like, let me know and I can post more. (A few have already been taken. Let me know what you like and I'll check to see if I have enough!)

Girly: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbbydesign/sets/72157624909984024/

Boyish: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbbydesign/sets/72157624610208411/

Neutral: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbbydesign/sets/72157624786768479/

Other (I may or may not have enough of these fabrics): http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbbydesign/sets/72157621780837243/

I've also made up a couple more page options. Here's the choices (pick 5):

Tic Tac Toe

The Dot Game

Hangman

Draw My Face

Use the Lines to Draw

a lined page

a blank page

(more pictures of the different pages are in my shop)

UPDATE: I was just playing around with Hike's book (pictured above) and found that Crayola Washable Markers also work well on these! Much better than dry erase markers in fact! (Added bonus, crayola is non-toxic and safe for you kiddos and you! Plus they have some that are fruity smelling! ;) ) These are great if you keep this in your car for traveling in the summer when your car gets hot, and your crayons could melt!

Other features: These are completely washable! Preferably hand wash, but water won't ruin the pages! Throw the eraser in the washer with any load. :) Such a nice feature with children's toys... which always seem to get dirty.

I'm really excited to get started! I really love these! :) I'm hoping to get a big stock pile of them to get ready for Christmas. I especially want to get these and some more Fabric Match Game Cards! I am out of the wool fabrics I've used on my past sets and am excited to get some more fun fabrics on them. I am also going to make up some sets with 10 different shapes and colors!

If there is something else you like in my shop that you think I should make more of, let me know! Last year was super crazy busy in December, and I want to be ready this year! ;)

On a similar note: I am contemplating making a goal for 100 sales by the end of the year (67 to go!)! I am hoping I can keep up with that, and thus why my head start. Do you have any tips or suggestions on how you have upped your sales in your shop or store? I would love to hear your experiences! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by! :)

My Bloggity

I was thinking, after writing a little about me, and wanting to get to know you. And with combining three blogs, and trying to keep it organized, that I better have a plan to make it all work! (though this has been my plan since the beginning... I'll just let you be in on it as well so you can partake it what interests you!) heehee.

Three blogs down to one.

• My family blog.
• dbByDesign - my crafty blog where I put all the stuff I made or did, or all things crafty
• db Crafty Corner - my place to store all those great ideas floating around out there, inspiring pictures, great tutorials. Pretty much anything and everything I bookmarked. Blogs and pages alike. I guess it was quite simply a blog of bookmarks.

That's kind of a lot of randomness to bring together. So here's the deal:

• Every post that begins with "Our Story" is family stuff. For the grandparents, siblings, and anyone else that cares. :)
• Every post that begins with "Made It" is something crafty that I've made or done.
• Posts beginning with "dbByDesign" is something specific to my Etsy Shop.
• "Photography" is my photography adventures. (which I've come up with Photography w/a Purpose to kind of categorize it and give me some kind of a challenge. I'll add a linky to all my posts so if you want to join me, I would love to see you're pictures as well!) :)
• "Bloggity Blogs" are those blogs I love to look at constantly. Where I can't just spotlight an item here or there, but everything is wonderful! (Only one a week, so it will take a while to get them all spotlighted!) :)
• "Fab Finds" are all my bookmarked items. I'm going to try to stay organized and only have one category per post. As in Bags, Cards (or maybe just Paper or Scrapbooking), Art, Photography, etc. That way when looking for something specific, it will be easier to find.

Simply, every tab I have at the top of my page is a different category. I have the tabs set to find all the posts with that label. Some do overlap into more than one, but that's ok.

So my point in telling you is, if you have my blog listed in your blog list on the side, and if you show a snippet or the title of the latest post, you'll know when you want to come over! If you don't care about the family stuff, but only want to see the Fab Finds, you'll be able to tell when I've posted them. If you're my family, you'll know when the interesting stuff comes along. haha. Anyway, I guess this makes it easier for all of us.

and now you can know the layout of my blog.

Thanks for stopping by! And I hope you enjoy it! :)

Made It: Paper Matching Game cards

I made most of these so long ago. This is actually the item that motivated me to open up my etsy shop! :) They've been fun, and since over at CSI this weeks challenge is Mod Podge, I decided to highlight these and enter them in the contest. Do you have a cool Mod Podge project you made? Go enter yours too (though I think there is only a couple hours left to enter. So hurry!)

***and of course now their site is down so I can't link up. Is it working for anyone else???***

Update: They were so super nice and posted it for me! Yippy! Thanks CSI! :)

I'm also linking to:

(but go ahead and check out all the buttons on my side bar. I linked up to a few others as well, but now I can't remember which. oops)

My Project: Match Game Cards

They are loaded with cute pictures (two of each) in all different colors.

• pink flower
• blue boat
• red apple
• green leaf
• purple butterfly
• white moon
• yellow star
• black bird
• orange bug
• brown truck
• and 1 old maid card

That is 10 sets, 21 cards total. You can play the memory game/matching game, go fish and old maid. They are way fun!

I even made a set with words, to help with word recognition as children learn to read.

I haven't made any of these for a while though. They take a long time, though are totally worth it!

I love the endless possibilities for the designs on the back!

...basically any kind of scrapbook paper or cardstock you want!

And of course, a nice finishing coat of Mod Podge to seal it and keep everything together!

oh, and then I always send them off in a cute little reversible drawstring bag so none of them get lost. :)

Since my boys are still a little young for this (and are still taste testers of everything, I also came up with a fabric version... Hike is just now starting to really enjoy these! :) What a great way to learn your shapes and colors!

Made It:: Erasable Activity Books

I originally posted these on my old blog (that's why the blog address is on there).

You can see the original post here.

I've made a couple of these and I love them.

This is the first one that I made:

With Tic-Tac-Toe, the Dot Game, Trace the Letters, Draw my Face and a blank page for whatever. Hike is now getting old enough to start enjoying it, though still too young to really get the concepts of the games. It's still fun though. :)

I made another one for my nephew for a Christmas present! He was so excited about it! My SIL told me that he used it for hours when he first got it, and now they keep it in their church bag and he uses it every Sunday! I was glad to hear how well it is holding up, and how much it's being used when she told me that. :)

These are great because with a washable crayon, everything comes right off and you can use it over and over and over again! You can also use a dry erase marker on them (though I can't guarantee that it will always come off. You know how sometimes on your white board the color starts to stain? well, I'm sure at some point it might turn out like that. But the washable crayons haven't had that problem and it's been used for almost a year now.)

They measure 6 inches wide by 6 1/2 inched tall

I have this one in my shop:

I've changed up some of the pages a little. This still has Tic-Tac-Toe and the Dot Game, as well as Draw My Face, and a blank page. But instead of the letters I made up a squigly line page. Did you ever do those art exercises in school where you start with two lines and then have to come up with some kind of picture, and everyone's turns out different. I thought that would be fun because every time you use it, it will be different. That's what this page is for. And yes, that is one less page than my first version. On the back page there are pockets for crayons and a mini eraser. It has a simple Velcro closure.

The best thing about these... they are small enough to fit in your purse or bag and take anywhere! Hate waiting at the doctors office with nothing to do? Pull out your activity book! Take it to the dentist, the checkout line at the grocery store, that boring movie, church, road trips (though not for the driver), use it on rainy days, while waiting for your kids after school, for your kids waiting for you after school, and the list goes on. No waisting endless amounts of paper, or finding more space to scribble on once the page is already covered. And you'll always be distracted in style. :)

These might make a nice shopping list, or other quick note notebook. We'll see. (they are kind of labor intensive. It's definitely been a process coming up with them. But they're so much fun that I can't help myself. :)

...and I'm about to make some more for my shop in September.

Do you want one?
Or know someone who wants one?
If you let me know I can let you pick out the fabric before I begin.
(include your email address so I can contact you.)

Do you have any suggestions for what other pages I could do?

Thanks for all your comments! :)

p.s. I'm linking up....

thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com

sewcando.blogspot.com

thegirlcreative.blogspot.com

makingtheworldcuter.blogspot.com

skiptomylou.org

todayscreativeblog.net

thecreativeitchboutique.blogspot.com

somewhatsimple.com

funtocraft.blogspot.com

go ahead and check out all the buttons on the side bar... I linked up to a few more sites as well! and really, they're all great! :)

Don't miss this giveaway!

Until this Saturday there is a giveaway over at One Day at a Time for a $10 Gift card or camera case by me. :)

There are also plenty other cute giveaways to enter, so don't miss it! :)

...and now I'm off for my family reunion! I will sure miss my hubby!

Love ya babe!