EtsyRAIN Craft Show Tomorrow, May 8th!

Stop by and see me and a whole bunch of other crafters tomorrow from 11 to 5 at the Intiman Theater in Seattle! It's gonna be fun!

Facebook

I made a page on Facebook for Tiny House. Stop by and check it out! :O)

The Hospital and CPSIA Lifts Constraints

Whoa, two posts in one day? What, are you crazy?

First, I had to make a rush-trip across the mountains, as my mom is in the hospital. She has diverticulitis and is very sick, but she'll be OK. Bug and I are here visiting Grandma and helping mind the house.

I just found out that the CPSIA has decided to wait a year before putting the testing constraints into effect (and hopefully they can figure out something for small business owners.) Anyway, that means that I can continue to make and sell baby/children items. I'm so excited! Once I get home, I'll be getting started on a few new pairs of baby pants, and hopefully a few more items.

Thoughts and Opinions

The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act will propose a slight challenge for me, as well as many other small business owners. "This Act, which will go into effect on February 10th, 2009, puts forth much more stringent safety measures for products intended for children under the age of 12.

Under the very important auspices of child safety, the Act may have grave unintended consequences: fewer choices for families who are looking for handcrafted alternatives. Many Etsy artists and craftspeople have expressed fears that they won't be able stay in business due to the burdensome cost of testing and certification pursuant to the proposed legislation." (From an open letter from Etsy to all sellers.)

As a mother, I think it's wonderful that toys are being tested. Hopefully I'll have to do less research on each toy that comes into my home (I can't tell you how many times my son has been given a gift that is full of lead.) As a Etsy seller, it kind of sucks. I love to make toys for my child, and sometimes a toy is something that other people want to buy. Unfortunately, unless I sell them illegally (I won't) I can't market any toys for children 12 and under. Unless I pay around $4,000 per toy for testing (I found this on another website--I'm not sure if the figure is correct, but whatever, you get the point.) I don't know what could be done about this, as it's going into effect pretty soon, but I do know that it puts a damper on what I do. Ugh.

Who else is affected by this? As a parent, how do you feel? As a seller? Anyone else have an opinion? I'm interested to know people's thoughts on this...

Extra Help

Since my husband is going out of town (tomorrow morning at the, ahem, crack of dawn) and going to be gone essentially for a week and a half, and I have not only a gigantic pizza party to plan, but a house to get on the market, a yard sale for which to get ready, and a vacation for which to pack--oh, yeah, don't forget the full-time job and toddler--I started to panic. So I called my mom, who couldn't make it, but, my sister could. And since I have a bunch of heavy lifting to do, and a porch to paint, her boyfriend is coming as well. Whoohoo! Problem solved!

Yes--this will be the second year that I've planned the Arlington Family Connection's annual pizza party. It involves a lot of pizza and watermelon, a playground, and volunteers. It's really not a lot of work, but when you add it into everything else, it starts to look like a monster! :O)

And, yes, we're selling our house. It's been a tough decision to make, but we can't afford it anymore. Our property taxes were increased recently, pushing our mortgage up very high, and our three year ARM expires next August. With the housing market slump, unfortunately there isn't the 20% increase in value that we need in order to refinance our house before that happens, so we're putting it on the market now. We don't know how long it will take, but we're hoping it's not too long because we need to keep our kid in diapers, and I really don't like Top Ramen: it gives me migraines. Just saying. (Anyone want to buy a recently completely renovated first floor condo in East Arlington, MA?)

Part of selling our house and moving is decluttering. I'd say we've put about a sixth of our possessions in the yard sale pile, and I'd like to put another sixth down there this week. The yard sale is set for Sunday the 27th. We've decided to get rid of all our baby acoutrements if anyone's looking for anything like that. Again, just saying. :O)

Ok, enough of the boring stuff. If you've made it this far, I commend you. I can be wordy and blabby. Sorry.

Yesterday we found the MOST AWESOME wading pool. Artesani Spray Pool in Brighton. Oh my gosh, the kids had a blast.

I also picked up some fabric for a most awesome gift for our cousin's up coming baby! Yey!

I'm also obsessed with wooden spools. I don't actually have any, though. Does anyone know where to find them?

And, I've been getting a few requests about the capes, and people wondering why they're not in the store. Well, the logos are copyrighted, and the tutorial is also labeled as copyrighted. Sad, I know. However, if you want something similar, let me know, and we'll see what we can work out. :O) It won't be exactly the same, but we can try to come up with something. :O)

Treasury!

My first treasury! I'm so excited!

This weekend was uber-busy! Since I'm the Queen of Procrastination, I finished up the dress for our friend's toddler at 11:30AM Saturday morning. Her party was at noon. Today, I finished her mother's scarf at 5:30PM. Her party was at 6. Yeah, I like to live life on the edge. I of course forgot to take pictures, but Shona said she's planning to take some of the dress, and I'm sure I can con her (hint hint!) into taking a few of the scarf as well... :O)