Merry Ho Ho, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Festivus...!

One more sleep until the Christmas festivities begin for us... then two days of Family "fun" (Read: Soul Crushing Insanity).

 

I have finished all of my monkey orders, all of our xmas shopping, and almost all of the wrapping - just one more present to go! I even found time to buy myself a little Christmas present yesterday... two hardcover books. Emma Forrest's 'Your voice in my head' and Ransom Riggs' 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children'. I know I shouldn't have... but, I cannot resist a new book especially when it's a hardcover... ugh... I have such an obsession with books. Even as a kid I would ask my Mom to buy me books all the time - regardless of whether or not I would ever read them, I needed them. I will definitely be reading these books, no question about it... and seeing as how I have a little extra time off next week I will be taking advantage of that and scheduling lots of much needed "Tanya Time". Today though, I will be grinding through the day getting everything ready for the holidays because my office will be closed until next Thursday... So with that I leave you with this, the best Christmas picture I have ever seen... someone should really make this into a card:

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

xoxo

My nephews are better than yours!!

My nephews are better than yours.

Sure, my opinion is bias... but if there were a contest I still think mine would win.

I got to spend the day with my nephews and their Momma, who is one of my favorite people, on Saturday. We shopped and finally made our Christmas ornaments that we were supposed to make a couple weeks back - but I had to go and get the flu. I was down for the count for eight days... first the flu hit me like a freight train and then I ended the week with Laryngitis. Fun times. So, my already full to the brim month has officially gone over the edge... and I am pretty sure I'm right behind it.

So - my adorable nephews... I am not even joking when I say that no matter how mad/sad/whatever I am - my eldest nephew, Jake, can make all of that melt away with one smile. I am pretty sure that half the women at the mall on Saturday could also attest to that. I have NEVER been approached by so many strangers in my life, Jake just sucks them in with his adorableness. Who can resist a two and a half year old saying "Aunty Tanya, where did you go" when you go into the change room... or "Mommy, you make me so happy" when Mommy comes back from making a purchase - seriously, women everywhere were melting around him.

After our shopping adventure we went back to my house to make Christmas ornaments and Jake was so happy to see his Uncle Ron TWICE in one week!! I'm not going to lie, getting a painted hand print from a 6 week old baby - NOT EASY. Getting a painted foot print from a 6 week old baby - IMPOSSIBLE. It was hilariously awkward. Of the dozen we did, only three turned out descent... but that's okay because it allows for a "re-do" when Brett is a bit older. Jake on the other hand couldn't have been easier... in fact I ended up painting his other hand a different color so that he could hand paint some paper after our decorations were made. I love being the fun Aunty that lets you get paint all over the kitchen counter and uses the dinner plates as a paint tray... this I know will become a joke in their later years... because they come from an OCD clean home and the thought of even painting at their Grandparents would bring a laugh or two. I can see it now - "If you're going to make a mess go to your Aunts"!! 

Thirteen days until Christmas... I have six more people to buy for (one of which I don't even know where to start), a custom order of three monkeys to fill, all of my wrapping and I am spending the day decorating my parent's tree with my Mom which has become tradition over the years. Phewf. Even writing that down has got my heart racing a bit because I know that is just "MY" stuff... I am the person in my family that everyone goes to for things (Read: DEPENDS on when they are stuck) so that list will no doubt get larger as the days go by and Christmas gets closer... But at least I put up my tree yesterday and I got to spend one day doing fun things with the two boys who have stolen my heart.

Oh yeah - and I finished up another badass custom monkey this weekend... I'll have to post pictures AFTER Christmas, so that the person receiving this monkey doesn't see him beforehand... Keep your eyes out for him!!

On Dasher, On Dancer, On Visa, On Master!!!

One month today! One more month that is going to fly by until Christmas is upon us... wow, I'm pretty sure that last week I was complaining about how hot it was and wishing the summer to be over (I guess the first thing about me to be effected by age is my concept of time!!)

 

Today is the official mark of the holiday season, it's Black Friday and we have exactly one month to go... So we all know that for the next 30 days everyone will be running around looking for the perfect gift for little Timmy or little Sarah and even though I think that the perfect gift for EVERYONE on your list is one of my sock monkeys, I know that it's the malls that will be buzzing with shoppers. Impatient, grumpy shoppers! See, another reason to buy my sock monkeys - no grumpy shoppers, no fighting over parking spots and no line ups!

 

I have managed to once again over-commit myself for the lead up to Christmas... I think secretly I need some sort of chaos to keep my batteries charged, or that maybe I enjoy the punishment. I have barely started shopping yet (usually I'd be done by now), with the exception of a small start to my brother's gift and half of my nephews' gifts - which I'll be honest I had already done in my mind months ago... They are my very favorite little people out there, who never fail to make me smile. Next weekend, after some gift shopping their Mom and I are going to make tree ornaments with them - or should I say, with their little hand prints!! I found this idea online and now I can't wait to make it with them!

 

I'm really starting to get excited for Christmas, I can feel the energy building... and I'm already thinking about where the tree is going to go this year since I moved furniture around a few months back... I've already marked a date on the calendar when my hubby and I will go to the Capilano Suspension bridge to see all of the lights... and I'm making my first trip to the Christmas store tomorrow morning with my Mom! So aside from the eight trillion things on my "to do" list this month, I'm ready to get the big day going already! I am hoping this year will be a white one, as we have been promised by all the weather forecasts, because nothing sounds better than being with loved ones on a snowy night having a glass (or several) of red wine in front of a fire... well, except SOCK MONKEYS... come on, you know you wanna - go buy a sock monkey!

Realizing this is work, advertising and puppies!

So, it's been almost a week since my last post... It's been a busy week, but not for the reasons that I had hoped. I hoped that I would post my monkeys online and people would love them and line up around the block like I had the last box of brand new iPhone's in North America... but that was clearly just a dream. I realized, after a few days of watching nothing happen on my Etsy page that people have to be able to "see" my shop to fall in love and unfortunately aside from the people on my facebook, a few friends not on facebook and a few friends of friends... no one else had taken notice.

 

There are millions of things on Etsy - for real, I think. When you search "sock monkey" 10,472 items come up. That's 250 pages of sock monkeys and sock monkey related items (from banners to patterns). I have no idea where mine fall in all of this... and I promise you that I would cry if I had to look through to figure it out...

So I purchased a week long ad hoping that it would help 'put my product out there'... today, my light grey striped monkey, photographed in his most sexy George Costanza pose, is sitting at the top of page five. I have also been advertising on my new Twitter account, but I seem to be more popular with female bodybuilders and what I believe to be men posed as women who "think about sex more than their male friends" than with the crafters or people that could help spread my monkeys across the world wide web.

Seriously, this is hard. I mean, I'm really lucky to have some really supportive people in my life, some of which have personally purchased custom monkeys from me (outside of Etsy) but how do you get 'Joe Blow' to find your terribly cute and adorable homeless monkeys and want to take one (or three?) home? I guess this is why there are so many blog entries on Etsy about 'how to succeed' as a shop owner. I'm going to have to do some reading.

 

On a lighter, much more fun note - I am puppysitting this week. Puppies! TWO of them. I haven't had to take care of a puppy since I adopted my girl, EIGHT years ago! She was the worst puppy in the world. The whole world. She was impossible to house train, she ran away anytime you opened a door even a crack, she learned how to unlock her kennel right away and let herself out when I wasn't home, and she chewed virtually anything. Well, except my shoes... she is a girl of my own heart. They say with kids that if you have a good baby it will be bad once it's older and if it's a bad baby it will be good once it's older (is it weird that I am calling babies "it"?) such is true with my girl. Now that Roxie is eight, she is a dream... aside from her insane jealousy I wouldn't change a thing about her.

Back to my puppysitting... I had forgotten how much different it is with a puppy, they cry because they want you to hold them, they pee on the floor because the door they go out at home doesn't look like your door at work and they get into everything. This is going to be an interesting week... today has been good because they are enjoying extra nap times from being so pooped from their explorations, but I have a feeling this won't continue thru the week. Good news is, if they are hooligans I will also be exhausted... and maybe sleep through the night, which would be a relief because right now my hubby is Sicky McSickerson and he is keeping me awake!!

My Etsy shop is OPEN!!!

Monkeys! Monkeys! Come get your monkeys!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/BigRedsThreads

Also, because I am a pretty great multi-tasker - I opened a Twitter account today too, so follow me!!

http://twitter.com/BigRedsThreads

Mmmmm BRAAAAIIIIIIIIINSSSSS.....

I'm back for one last post before the "FOR SALE" sign is officially up tomorrow!

So, my plan was to spend my long weekend preparing for my Etsy store to be up and running by today, but a little residual "Halloween Energy" was pent up inside of me and screaming to get out... so I'm down a day. Anyone who knows me well knows that Halloween in my absolute favorite time of the year. The pumpkin carving, the haunted houses, the ghosts and goblins, the eerie stories and the amazing costumes... I love it all and wish it could stick around longer. In fact I actually have Halloween ornaments/decorations in both my home and office all year long... But I digress... I needed to get this idea in my head out and have it exist in front of me. So please meet my newest creation, Zombie Monkey.

His brains and insides are oozing out, he has a missing leg with only a bone remaining, his one eyeball is barely hanging in there and his heart couldn't be any more black... he is officially my favorite monkey. I have made custom monkeys before and have a few other ideas on the way including a dia de los muertos (day of the dead/sugar skull) by request of my equally dark and spooky loving sister... but don't think that the only custom requests I take have to be Ghoulish... I am equally capable of making cute custom monkeys. Last month I made my nephew a monkey that had mismatched limbs (all different shades of blue) and little white stitched on patches all over him... there was nothing creepy about that little guy!

Now that I have gotten that idea out I can focus on editing a few pictures tonight and then tomorrow they will go on line. I'm not going to lie, I am terrified. I can't stop thinking about how I will get these little guys "out there" for people to see... and what if they don't sell... and is there something more I could have done to them to help my "brand". I don't really know any of these answers and I guess this will be a learning experience for me, I just really hope it's a positive one. I'm really enjoying this so far, mostly because these guys are easy to work with - they don't get mouthy, you never have to worry about them being late and they're so damn cute!

Wish me luck and check me out tomorrow!! 

Day Two, New look...

Well, I survived the rest of yesterday... I think that was because I was ridding high on excitement... Thanks to my head cheerleader J, I was read in Canada, the USA and Germany - GERMANY! Oh yeah, and thanks to her I was also re-blogged on another blog site (aside from her own)... one belonging to an Etsy promoter... HOLY HANNA!!
So, while I was bouncing off the walls with excitement (also, I did have a little extra caffeine yesterday...) I set up shop to take photos of my work so that I could list it... My camera battery was dead.
Of course it was. This is was happens when you have too much on your plate, you become a scatter brain. I am the queen of scatter brains right now, I have to write post-it-notes for everything. EVERYTHING. If you want me to remember anything at all, it must be in writing.
I did get some photos last night, a few cuties and a few that I have already deleted. I have only ever been good at photography when the situation presented itself, if I have to make it happen I get frustrated... it just needs to be organic in order for me to "capture that moment". What I am saying is, I am in the same place as I was yesterday... Except I made my new blog (yes, this very page you are reading right now) look a little prettier, hey - that's something, right??
The very second I leave work tonight I am going to pick up more socks... I have a custom order of four to fill... I know what I'll be using this long weekend for. That and seeing an old friend that's in town... oh yeah - and celebrating my sister being another year older (too bad she'll always be younger than me...)

Oh hi people out there in cyberspace!

Wow. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed right now...
So, I have little to no restraint when it comes to online shopping and I have "things" I just can't resist... Sock moneys being just one of them! I decided a couple months back that I a) need to supplement my income if I am going to continue to spend like this and b) am pretty artistic and crafty - and have been making all sorts of things from paintings to sock monkeys for years... and for free...
About a year or so ago I discovered Etsy; this was both the best and worst thing that has ever happened to me. Fast forward to today and I am getting ready to open my very own Etsy store - Big Red's Threads!
This is where the feeling of being overwhelmed is coming from... it's not just "oh, I'm making sock monkeys and then I'm going to sell them" anymore... now it's collecting shipping quotes (I had NO idea how expensive it would be to ship from Canada!!) and writing my store "policies" and trying to decide between Canadian and American currency. Ugh. There have been a few emails sent to my friends complaining about how "not fun" this has become and a few threatening emails about how I was going to set my monkeys on fire (I would actually never really do this...) but then my mind wonders back to a few VERY supportive people in my life that have been my own little cheerleaders thru this... one of which has also (unbeknownst to her) inspired me to write a blog too! Thanks J.
So, here goes nothing... this is my very first blog post and within a weeks time (fingers crossed) I will have my monkeys listed on my store page ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/BigRedsThreads )... but for the remainder of today I will be reminding myself to "just breathe"...