A Little Update On The Situation

So first off I will show you all a picture of the zebra I finished recently! It was a lot of work but I modeled it off of the giraffe body style since that one is such a favorite!

So now I will give everyone an update on what is happening.

At 5:30pm Sunday night, I started feeling immense pain near my belly button, at first thinking it was just extremely bad cramps, but the pain persisted all night and later when I was in bed I realized that the pain was focused on the right side above my hip bone but still thought it was just bad cramps or ovarian cysts. So kept waking up throughout the night in pain when I moved and before I went to be it was painful to walk, go down the stairs and lay flat. 

I woke up the next morning in pain when I moved and in general. So we made an appointment for a doctor and went there around 10:45am. The doctor did the rebound test and it hurt so bad when he stopped pressing on the area. He told me and my mom that he was pretty sure it was appenditicis and I could either go to the ER or go to an appointment at 3:30pm with a surgeon. Well I didn't want to wait in the ER so we decided to wait til 3:30pm and watch me to make sure it didn't get worse. Things thankfully didn't get worse so we went to the surgeon he then ordered a CT scan and I had to go get it done then. It had been 7 years since I last got a CT scan and what I remembered before was that you had to drink this nasty thick green drink that tasted HORRIBLE. But to my surprise they changed it. It wasn't thick, you could pick the taste (I got Rasberry Ice) and I had an hour and a half to drink it and finished it in 15 minutes lol! Tasted good and I hadn't had anything to drink. It was 7 pm by the time I got the test done and the surgeon called us to tell us it looked a bit inflammed but what was worrisome was that there was something blocking the opening of the appendix (which is one way that the people get appendicitis). He said that it wasn't as bad as when they would normally do the surgery but in time it would get as bad. The amazing thing is we caught it early!

Because I know how my body works more than the average person because of having neurocardiogenic syncope you have to be able to tell if something is a bit off so you can prepare to pass out possibly. So I could tell that something was very odd with my body and because of that we caught it earlier than most would! We said yes to the surgery and I got wheeled into the OR at 11:30pm and got back to my room around 2am. Woke up in extreme pain and throughout the day I slept, ate a liquid diet (still am :( ) and had to walk around and sit in chairs. Had a syncope at 6am in the morning when I got up for the first time. But no one tells you how much pain you will be in when you wake up! Well if you have surgery in your abdominal area you will be in pain because you use your abdominal muscles for everything! And I mean everything!  

So I went home and the doctor said I can't bend down, lift anything or strain myself in anyway. Almost like I'm on bedrest :( Doctor said I could eat anything so I decided to stay on a soft food diet for a bit and had macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes. And we found out later that night that it didn't settle well for me (it could have been fine for others but not me) and the food settled in my stomach and caused it to swell and the pain was unbearable and couldn't lay down flat. Lets just say I had a VERY rough night last night and I'm back on my full liquid diet again :( 

Finally I woke up this morning after a bit of a rough night and I feel a lot better. Still very painful to walk around and get up but doing better! I might even be able to crochet today!! I'm so excited to be able to do it and I have a lot of animals to work on! I'll keep you all up to date on the recovery process, but I gotta say I'm SOOOO happy to have my appendix removed!!! That way if I have abdomen pain again we know it isn't this!!! Also I'm so blessed to have a family who has been there with me throughout all this and my mom had to be at the hospital with me this whole time caring for me and taking care of me, and a boyfriend who has been so caring and loving and there for me and so understanding even though he has finals and classes to deal with!!

I'm very blessed with everyone who is around me and cares about me and everyone who has been wondering how I'm doing and praying for me thank you for all that!! 

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First Sale!!

Hey guys been really busy lately!! So many orders but wanted to let you know a good idea I had on sales and marketing!! Right now (the only time I'm allowing this exact one!) I'm doing a sale for $5 off each animal but for only 5 animals!! Once those five animals are order the sale is over!!

From now on I'm going to do something similar to this each month but make it more structured where I can make them ahead of time! Each month until October (because that's when Christmas orders start coming in) I will have a sale for $5 off 5 animals of a certain type. I'll make the animals ahead of time and usually it'll be ones that can be standardized in color and people will pick their bowtie or head bow color!

Next month I'll be doing Christmas in July with Penguins!! Thought it'd be a cute idea!! Please let me know what you think and what you think I should do for each month like a cute name or idea for an animal!!

This sale this weekend is special because it's any animal and they get to pick the colors but this one won't happen again!!

By the way here is a picture of the sale poster I made on my iPad on Phoster

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Honey Bear!!!! Original!

So I've finished the original piece and the person received it!!! :D She loves it!!!

Honey Bear!! The original character design that was ordered!! The Honey Bear design was created and made by Katy Gautier! She's an amazing artist! The picture on the left is the picture of her drawing and the picture on the right is my 3D c...rochet piece modeled after her design! This piece was so much fun! I really enjoy taking people's 2D ideas and turning them into something you can hold!!

And this piece is 20.5 inches from top of the ear to the tip of the toe, 17.5 inches from end to end of the arms outstretched, and 9 inches wide (stomach to tail). The eyes are made of felt and sewn on.

Original designs are $70 and up depending on the character! If you want to get a quote send me an email at intheloop.sarahjayne@yahoo.com

 

Please let me know what you think of it!! :D I'm proud of it but I'd like to know what you all think :) Btw I am working on a penguin at the moment as well so look forward to that!!!

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Most Profitable Month!

Hey guys!! May has been the most profitable month by far for me! The amount of revenue I got from that one month was three times what I've had in other months. I just finished two owls and will post those another time! I have also finished another giraffe! And working on another for the Etsy shop! Once I finish that giraffe I'll be able to actually open up the shop! I'm so excited!!

So this is how I decided to package my creations for sale! I got a bunch of tshirt bags from Uline and got some ribbon from the nearby Jo-Ann's and I make cards that go with my animals that explain how to take care of it and what you should do if you get it dirty. Just look at the Poly-Fil directions for cleaning and the yarn's directions for cleaning and figure out what to do.

I made this via the Calligraphy app on my iPad mini. It took forever but was totally worth it. I had to make bows in all colors that I offer and take pictures and edit each one. Sometimes the colors didn't come out well on the bows so had to find colors from the animals I have made in the past. This is something I will be sending to the people that order from me on Etsy so they can either choose their color bows or if it is a custom piece they can choose their colors for their animal this way. It's very convenient for them - lots of work for me.

So I hope this helps or gives you some ideas for your own shop!

By the way I got this incredibly cute stuffed animal chair at a garage sale and I'll show you pictures later because I'm planning on painting it and stenciling the name of the company on it. I need help deciding colors though. Please leave comments for what you think about everything in today's post!

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My favorite so far!! And a bit of Etsy.

So the picture I'm posting today is of my favorite creation I've made by far! I mean I love all of the ones I make but this is definitely my favorite with how it all turned out.

So you want to know the reason why I love this little guy??? Well he just turned out perfect!! When he sits down he sits up all by himself thanks to the way the tail is designed and attached! It pushes back up on the monkey to counter the weight and ends up not only propping up the monkey but the tail as well!! My boyfriend actually ended up buying it from me!! lol!! But I plan on making a brown and tan monkey soon that way I can standardize it for Etsy in order to sell it easily.

I've figured out a couple things about my Etsy and am almost able to start it up and write a good blog about it!! Right now here's what I've done. I've bought clear tshirt bags to put the animals in and tie with pretty ribbon and put into boxes for shipping. I bought the bags through ULINE which was good priced and ended up being delivered the next day. I also bought a roll of that brown Kraft paper to use for cushioning in shipping. I've figured out prices, shipping, and pricing per extra item. I've also made a banner!

I've decided I will only put the animals on that I have the pieces created for and that can be standardized (one's that have particular colors that it is known for in) like the giraffe, ladybug, duck, monkey, etc. and make the pieces ahead of time in the normal colors. I will list one of each once I create the pieces for it and the person will pick then whether they want a headbow or bowtie and what color they want it in and then I will attach everything and hopefully get them sent out within the week depending on the orders. I have also crocheted bows in all the colors I have so that people can not only pick their color bow for their animal BUT they can choose the colors I have from there for any custom orders. I will also be taking custom orders and I'm thinking I will say those will take about 3 weeks from order to ship out day depending on orders. But when someone buys from the ones already listed those will be taken off the site until I can make the pieces for it again and once that is done it will be listed back on the Etsy. This way it gives me time and I'm not overloaded with orders and I can send them out quicker.

Well I hope this gave some insight to those of you who are making an Etsy. This is just what I have decided so far and some of them I feel are some good ideas. Leave comments please and let me know if you have suggestions or comments or advice or what you think about the monkey and the Etsy!!

Also remember to stay in the loop and please press the like button below!! I'm 20 likes away from starting an offer!!!

Been a while!!

Hey guys!! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Trying to figure out the Etsy stuff!! It'll hopefully be up and running within two weeks! After that I'll post a nice update explaining how to do it for yourself!! I've been busy with orders like crazy! Just finished two of them a bee and a butterfly but I will only post the butterfly today! I've decided to make some changes to it from now on such as the wings will be bigger and the next shorter! But like all the others you can put either a bowtie or head bow with your choice of color and customize your's to your colors.

 

Also I must say everyone always comments after seeing them that they are much bigger than they thought they'd be. Keep in mind that these are usually 12 inches or bigger. I'm also trying to figure out the shipping amounts and everything! Hope you like the new update and they new creation!! Please post comments on what you think!! :) Still needing 22 likes for my FB page!! If you like my creations please support it by pressing the like button below!! I'm figuring out what I will offer once I get 100 likes! Please help me out!

 



FINALS!! DONE!

So just finished my last final of the semester today!! YAY!!!!

Finished packing up my stuff and heading back to my hometown tomorrow!!! I'm so exhausted and now I need to finish up the Bumble Bee order and do the Butterfly order. I also got in a crochet order for an original character that someone has been drawing for years! I'm really excited about it and excited about the possibilities of this broadening the business to people who make up their own characters!

Because I can look at a picture and figure out a pattern for it, this is perfect for what I love to do! The Ideas Challenge didn't pan out for me an all but with all the possible orders I got and people coming up to me and asking for my business card, I think it was a success!!

I'll be finishing those three orders and also working on new ones while working on animals for First Friday for next semester. Also as soon as I get home I plan to start setting up my Etsy shop to also get more orders! I've printed out and research a lot so probably in the next week watch for an article about the research I've done on how to set up an Etsy!! I'm very excited and hope all of this helps!!!

I don't have any new projects today so I will post the usual picture!

 

Remember to stay in the loop and please press the like button below!! I still need 28 likes to get to 100!